Dubrovnik is notable for the large flocks of alpine swifts which nest in the old city walls.

Alpine Swifts spend most of their lives in the air, living on the insects they catch in their beaks.

The African Black Swift is a colonial breeder, sometimes forming mixed colonies with alpine swifts.

Alpine Swifts are readily distinguished from the Common Swifts by their larger size and their white belly and throat.

There will be more Mediterranean visitors like Hoopoes and Alpine Swifts in spring if there are winds from the south encouraging an overshoot of the breeding areas.

The Alpine Swift (Tachymarptis melba, syn.

It contains the Alpine Swift (Tachymarptis melba) of Eurasia and Africa and the Mottled Swift (Tachymarptis aequatorialis) of Africa.