At 4:21 PM 97.4.8 +1000, wrote:
>I'm no expert on the breeding habits of White-throated Needletails, but I
>recently encountered a good, if old, article on that topic:
>Neufeldt, I. & F.G.H. Allen. 1960. Some notes of the biology of
>Needle-tailed Swift in Siberia. British Birds 53: 433-435.
>In short, it said that the beasts breed in south-central Siberia (as far
>west as the Vasguyan R.), eastwards through the taiga zone to Sakhalin I.
>and the Kuriles. Most breeding records from the former USSR were of scrapes
>at the bottom of large hollows in larches and pines; most such hollows were
>in storm-broken stumps, 3-7 metres high, in overgrown old clearings (often
>in swampy ground, often formed by previous fires). I don't think anything
>substantial on their breeding biology has been published in english since
>1960, but I have no idea what has been published in Russian or Chinese.
>
This species breeds from central Honshu north to Hokkaido here in Japan.
None of my books go much into breeding details though there will be
published information on it somewhere here in Japanese. Given the
distribution quoted for Siberia it probably also breeds through a lot of
Korea and North-east China.
>
>While on the subject of swifts, does anyone out there have any photos of any
>of the swift species occurring in Australia that they would be prepared to
>lend to the HANZAB team for a couple of months? Jeff Davies (preparing the
>plates), David Eades (preparing the Field ID texts) and I (Plumages/Moults)
>have all encountered a frustrating lack of photos in researching our work.
>Even photos that just show little silhouettes would be useful to us! The
>swifts being treated in HANZAB are: White-throated Needletail, Fork-tailed
>Swift, House Swift, White-rumped Swiflet, Glossy Swiftlet and Uniform
>Swiftlet. David Eades and Jeff Davies can be contacted through RAOU
>headquarters.
>
>
White-throated Needletail, Fork-tailed Swift, House Swift: these 3 species
breed here in Japan and are illustrated in the various photo guides
available here. The text is in Japanese but the photos are good! (Standard
birdwatching gear here includes a camera with a lens as long as your car
and as wide as a dinner plate :) Let me know if you can't get hold of
these.
Cheers
Des Allen
Machida Shi, Japan
e-mail:
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