I don't think we have swifts here, I only know the name... We have at least 3 or 4 swallow species, as far as I know. Swifts must be beautiful, I will google it, thanks!
yes, they are very fast and they give peculiar "screeks"... i love when the young ones are flying out of the nests, they gather in swarms and race around the roofs and chimneys - like "look how i can fly!!!" we have three species of swallows here...
well not really... last year we had a row of very young swallows sitting on our shed by the house... i took some photos, but don't ask me where i have them now... many years ago i used to have a swifts nest right under the roof of the neighbour house... i could see the old ones flying in and out all day... i always feared they might crash to pieces, because they went in there at full speed... but i did miss the young ones leaving the nest...