Geneva's bird rescue centre has taken in around forty young swifts in three days as temperatures under the roofs where they nest climb toward 60 degrees.
Unable to regulate their body heat, the chicks throw themselves from the nest before they can fly — a survival gamble that beats near-certain death from heatstroke or dehydration.
Most cannot get airborne once they hit the ground, and many arrive with broken wings or burns from scorching pavement.
Anyone finding a chick is asked not to relaunch it, but to place it in a shaded cardboard box and call a wildlife rescue centre.
The University of Geneva has begun installing artificial nesting boxes as modern buildings leave the species fewer places to breed.
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