Fork-tailed Swift (Apus pacificus ) Report for 2006/07 Season.
[Summary of sightings sent to me or published where I could find them]
Last seasons first sighting was not from WA as in the previous season
but from Qld. Rod Gardner claimed the first sighting, which was of
ten birds over Anstead Bush Reserve on 16 October. Peter & Debbie
Cooper followed this with six birds over the Mossman River on 1
November. The third sighting and first of a larger group was of 200
birds seen at Nightcliff near Darwin by Sheryl & Arthur Keates on 5
November. All succeeding sightings in November were from South
Australia and Queensland. The largest of these were of 200 birds
seen at Hervey Bay (Qld), by Lee Mason then at Adelaide on three
occasions by John Turner or Kate Buckley,
It was the middle of December before the first WA reports arrived.
Don Hadden saw just ten very high over Mt Barnett in the Kimberley on
the 15th and 16th. We then had to wait until the 1st of January for
the first sighting of a large group of Fork-tailed Swifts. That was
of more than 6,000 birds seen in WA by Adrian Boyle at Broome.
Five of the next remaining six large groups were seen in Qld. The
next largest sighting was of 850 birds seen South of Charleville by
myself. Then 600+ birds seen near Trinity Beach in Qld by John
Seale, followed by 600 seen South of Augathelia by myself. Two lots
of 200 were seen at Bustard Bay by Margaret Cameron on 28 & 29
January. The only other state with a sizeable sighting was SA, with
a sighting of 300+ birds at Novar Gardens, Adelaide, seen on 5th
January by John Turner.
The first Victorian sightings were made on 22 December when Michael
Ramsey and George Appleby recorded eight groups at various places
around Melbourne.
The last sighting from Qld was of 6 birds North of Brisbane 12 March
(Chris Armstrong). The last in Vic were around Melbourne (Mike
Carter, Steve Davidson, & Albert Vrielink) on 23 March . These were
followed by the last in NT near Nourlangie on 1 April (Marc Gardner),
in WA at Hyden on 8 April (Cheryl Gorle). The last likely migrating
swifts that I know of reported in Australia were 20+ birds at Norah
Head, NSW on the 20 April by Robyn & Dick Price . Six over-
wintering birds were seen 29 July in Ryde, Sydney by Alistair
McKeough; so never give up looking for these interesting birds.
Of the 98 sightings I know of, 22 were made in NSW (down 19 on last
year), 5 in the NT (up 3), 26 in Qld (up 9), 19 in SA (up 4), 1 in
ACT. Interesting absentee reports were from Eastern Adelaide, even
when the birds were in coastal Adelaide. Except for the 600+ birds
seen by John Searle near Trinity Beach, this species was also much
less common in North coastal Qld than normal. I never saw any on my
pilgrimage through this area!
As well as those contributors noted above I wish to thank the
following for reporting their Fork-tailed Swift sightings where I
could access them: George Appleby, Chris Armstrong, Adrian Boyle,
Keith, Brandwood, Kate Buckley, Margaret Cameron, Mike Carter, Bob
Cook, Peter & Debbie Cooper, Ricki Coughlan, Bruce Cox, Steve
Davidson, Keith Fisher, Marc Gardner, Rod Gardner, Cheryl Gorle,
Terry & Lyn Gould, R. Green, Philip Griffin, Don Hadden, Colin Heap,
Dick Jenkin, Sheryl & Arthur Keates, Neil Kirby, Lana Little, Bruce &
Joan Lowery, Faye Lush, Lee Mason, Alan McBride (& Paul Davis), Clive
Nealon, Robyn & Dick Price, Carol Probets, Rob Quinan, Michael
Ramsey, John Rawsthorne, Colin Reid, Frank Rheindt, Chris Sanderson,
Neville Schrader, John Seale, Jim Smart, Alastair Smith, Gil Smith,
M. Steeden, David Stowe, Dale Tonkinson, Dave Torr, John Turner,
Brian Venables, Albert Vrielink & Marnix Zwankhiuzen.
Happy swift-watching and recording for this season.
Mike Tarburton
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