science

Treeswift

Treeswift is a science topic covered in the lgStudy science library. This page brings together a partial reference excerpt, illustrations, worked examples, real-world applications and a short study plan, so you can understand Treeswift rather than just read about it. In short: Treeswifts, or crested swifts, are a family, the Hemiprocnidae, of aerial birds, closely related to the true swifts. The family contains a single genus, Hemiprocne, with four species.

Key takeaways

Treeswift belongs to science; place it in that map before memorising details.
Learn the definition first, then one example that makes the definition concrete.
Connect Treeswift to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
Reproduce the core statement of Treeswift from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

Treeswifts, or crested swifts, are a family, the Hemiprocnidae, of aerial birds, closely related to the true swifts. The family contains a single genus, Hemiprocne, with four species. They are distributed from India and Southeast Asia through Indonesia to New Guinea and the Solomon Islands.

Description Treeswifts are small to medium-sized swifts, ranging in length from 15 to 30 cm. They have long wings, with most of the length coming from the length of the primaries; their arms are actually quite short. They visibly differ from the other swifts in matters of plumage, which is softer, and they have crests or other facial ornaments, and long, forked tails. Anatomically they are separated from the true swifts by skeletal details in the cranium and palate, the anatomy of the tarsus, and a nonreversible hind toe that is used for perching on branches (an activity in which true swifts are unable to engage). The males have iridescent mantle plumage. They also have diastataxic wings, that is they lack a fifth secondary feather unlike swifts in the Apodini, which are eutaxic.

Ecology The treeswifts exhibit a wide range of habitat preferences. One species, the whiskered treeswift, is a species belonging to primary forest. Highly manoeuvrable, it feeds close to vegetation beneath the canopy, and only rarely ventures into secondary forests or plantations, but never over open ground. Other species are less restricted; the crested treeswift makes use of a range of habitats including humid forests and deciduous woodland, and the grey-rumped treeswift occupies almost every habitat type available from the mangrove forests to hill forests. All species feed on insects, although exact details of what prey are taken has not been studied in detail. Nest-building responsibilities are shared by the male and female. They lay one egg in the nest, which is glued to an open tree branch. Egg colour varies from white to grey. Little information is available about incubation times, but they are thought to be longer for the larger species. Chicks hatch with a covering of grey down and are fed a bolus of regurgitated food by the parents.

Species

References

Further reading del Hoyo, J.; Elliot, A. & Sargatal, J. (editors). (1999). Handbook of the Birds of the World. Volume 5: Barn-Owls to Hummingbirds. Lynx Edicions. ISBN 84-87334-25-3

Illustrations

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with Treeswift

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what Treeswift claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In science, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to Treeswift before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about Treeswift ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of Treeswift

In research: Treeswift appears in science research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry: Engineering practice reuses Treeswift in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom: Treeswift is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics Apodiformes, Birds of Indomalaya, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for Treeswift outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.

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How to study Treeswift in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what Treeswift means in your own words.
Compare your version with the excerpt and mark what you missed.
Work through the three examples above with pen and paper.
Explain Treeswift out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is Treeswift in simple terms?

Treeswifts, or crested swifts, are a family, the Hemiprocnidae, of aerial birds, closely related to the true swifts. The family contains a single genus, Hemiprocne, with four species.

Why does Treeswift matter?

Because it connects several science ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study Treeswift?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on Treeswift.