Pallid Swifts (Apus pallidus) have a global population of between 250,000-2,000,000 according to the IUCN and although of least concern, there is currently a strong tendency to urbanisation particularly in Europe, while we know very little about their full annual cycle. There are no African ringing recoveries for this species and only summary distribution data. We attached 14 geolocators to breeding birds from a large and stable natural coastal colony in Portugal in 2012. Eight of these were recovered in 2013 and we present here five complete migration and winter cycles. We show that the main mid-winter strategies for this population are more coastal than given in the literature and limited in area. These birds used two distinct winter areas separated by 2000 km either separately or moving between them. These movements appear timed to the annual weather cycle in West Africa.
Far from being nomadic the species has finely timed migratory strategies and therefore the wintering areas are of conservation concern.