birding-aus

Swift Parrot observations and field notes

To: David Adams <>
Subject: Swift Parrot observations and field notes
From: John Tongue <>
Date: Mon, 13 Aug 2012 18:57:39 +1000
David,
All sounds pretty accurate to me!  They are called SWIFT Parrots for a reason!

Cheers,
John Tongue
Ulverstone, Tas.


On 13/08/2012, at 6:49 PM, David Adams wrote:

> I went out at dusk again and waited for the Swift Parrots to come
> overhead and saw groups of 3, 4, 3 and about 2 dozen. I thought I'd
> pass along a few more observations on flight patterns while they're
> fresh in my mind. I'd be very grateful to get some comments on flight
> behavior in Swift Parrots from people with experience.
> 
> * Flying overhead against a plain sky, Swift Parrots look more like
> Rainbows than anything else - but they still look different. Rainbows
> are lot more stocky looking as their tail never really disappears,
> even when they're up high.
> 
> * It seems like Swift Parrots are much more likely to fly in a tight
> group at tree-top level  than the Lorikeets.
> 
> * Even if you can't see the tail, the parrots have a much
> longer-looking wing than, say, the Musk Lorikeets. Overall, they're a
> very streamlined bird.
> 
> * They're insanely fast. I'm used to getting my binoculars on flying
> parrots but these guys are tough. I was thinking it was the light or
> some kind of illusion, now I think that they're either objectively
> faster, better at flying near to cover, or both. "Both", is my
> impression.
> 
> * I'd say that the Swift Parrots are a lot more likely to fly
> acrobatically than the lorikeets. "Acrobatic" meaning, weaving,
> changing directly slightly and switching around position in the flock.
> 
> * The Swift Parrots seem to fly in tighter bunches than Rainbow Lorikeets.
> 
> That's all pretty subjective and impressionistic so, again, I'd really
> like to hear what other people think.
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