Super Swifts: Small Birds with Amazing Powers

Swifts, small and unremarkable-looking, stay aloft almost their entire lives, flying great distances at up to 70 miles an hour. Anderson starts this survey of “the champions of the bird world” in central Africa, where swifts winter over the Congo River. Mixed-media close-ups by Robin show the birds’ gray plumage and blade-like wings, while aerial views show a female (“our swift”) flying over vast oceans and above misty banks of sun-reflecting golden clouds. Landing for the first time in a year in Britain, she raises young, building nests stuck together with saliva, “which sets hard like superglue.” Alongside the main narrative, smaller type supplies additional information on each page, and inset boxes also detail the lice that nestle in the birds’ feathers and breed when the swifts nest. It’s a close-up view that hints at the inter-relatedness of life. More about swifts concludes. Ages 4–8. (May)