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House Swifts???

To:
Subject: House Swifts???
From: Harvey Perkins <>
Date: Fri, 28 Feb 2003 12:42:29 +1100
Hi all,

I've been very interested to hear of a few reports of possible House Swifts
this season, most recently by Carol Probets.

Why? Because, on 28 Dec 2002 I saw what might also have been House Swifts
over Goodnight Scrub Nat Pk in Queensland, about 60 km SW of Bundaberg. I
was birding with Chris Barnes and Erik Zillman for the day but
unfortunately they didn't see these swifts.

I saw them (through 10x bins) only briefly, and fairly high up, and they
were also mostly sillhouetted against the bright clearing-from-overcast
sky. There were two of them (that I saw) amongst about half a dozen
White-throated Needletails, and they looked quite similar in shape and
movement, though smaller. What I noticed particularly was the tail, which
was short with just the barest indentation of a "fork", the outer two
halves being fairly square-cut though slightly rounded.

As Carol said of her experience "I only had a brief glimpse and
it's all based on very subjective impressions" but after looking in the
field guides I also came up with House Swift as the most likely, though
they will "only ever remain one of those frustrating "maybes"". (I should
say that I've never seen House Swifts previously.)

Harvey



................................................
Dr Harvey D. Perkins
School of Biochemistry & Molecular Biology
The Australian National University
Canberra, ACT 0200, Australia
ph +61 2 6125 2693; fax:+61 2 6125 0313
and:
Pest Animal Control Cooperative Research Centre
................................................

Editor, Canberra Bird Notes
(Journal of the Canberra Ornithologists Group)
42 Summerland Circuit, Kambah, ACT 2902
Ph: (02) 6231 8209  mobile: 043 886 9990

................................................


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