Just got back to Perth...
I was at Newell Beach north of Mossman this morning looking for Barn
Swallow and Red-rumped Swallow. Barbara Harvey from Sydney was with me.
We were on Andrews Street not far from the water tower. I was stopped while
checking on three swallows on the wires (Welcome) when I saw a single
swiftlet. I assumed that it was an Australian Swiftlet. Looking out the
driver's window I could not see a pale rump as it passed by, and I had seen
the full back and thought that I should have seen the rump. I got out of
the car, and saw it flying around for about 1 to 2 minutes. I saw the back
clearly on about 8 or more occasions and it definitely was an all dark
swiftlet. It was flying above the houses, as low as twice house height and
several times within 50 metres of me.
Unfortunately the light rain increased and I retreated to the car and then
there was a downpour for about 50 minutes. As the rain eased the number of
swiftlets increased. Those that I could see all had pale rumps. We looked
around Newell Beach for another hour. More than 100 swiftlets passed by
(all heading in the direction of Mossman). I saw about 1/4 to 1/3 of the
rumps and they were all Australian Swiftlets. Whenever I could see the
backs I clearly saw the pale rump even up to 200 metres or more. They were
flying higher after the rain. I could not find the all dark swiftlet again.
Just lucky to be in the right place at the right time, with a lone swiftlet
that preferred flying low, and flew back and forth along Andrews Street a
few times.
I rang Mike Carter soon after I got back into the car from the rain after
first seeing the bird. His comment was that although there are about four
all dark swiftlet species, realistically it was almost certainly a Uniform
Swiftlet. Probably not a good enough argument for BARC!!! But I will make
a submission to that extent so that it is documented.
PS : I did not find any Barn or Red-rumped Swallows. There were a
scattering of Welcome Swallows around Newell Beach, and lots of Tree
Martins at Newell Beach and along Somerset Drive.
_________________________________________________________________
Frank O'Connor Birding WA http://birdingwa.iinet.net.au
Phone : (08) 9386 5694 Email :
===============================
www.birding-aus.org
birding-aus.blogspot.com
To unsubscribe from this mailing list,
send the message:
unsubscribe
(in the body of the message, with no Subject line)
to:
===============================
|
