Philip
While suggestions of Welcome Swallow, White-backed Swallow, White-breasted Woodswallow or a martin are probably all reasonable, I would reject them chiefly because the
bird I saw was noticeably larger than any of these. Also the plumage pattern was typically that of an adult Pacific Swift. Remember I was standing just 15 metres from the bird and had four good three to four-second views in bright overcast. While I described
the flight as ‘slow undulating’ perhaps it may have been more realistic to emphasise its buoyancy which, at times, was quite bouncy.
Interestingly,
The Australian Bird Guide tells us, usually seen in high-flying flocks ...but can fly much lower if weather changes bring prey close to ground. From memory,
HANZAB mentions ... will fly down to less than a metre. But will not touch that particular volume again today as I dropped it and seem to have damaged it
L.
John Layton
Holt
Hello John,
A curious story and I certainly learned a new word “embonpoint”.
This seems quite strange for a swift. Can you please add a little more information about the bird, as in to be sure it wasn’t something else: a martin, a White-backed Swallow or a White-breasted Woodswallow for example.
Philip
From: John Layton]
Standing in a backyard four blocks from Wagga’s CBD at 10AM on 27 January I watched a Pacific Swift describe a slow undulating flight through
the adjacent yard, about two metres above the ground and some 15 metres from where I stood. ‘Just idling along’ would be another apt description of its flight. As it approached a three-metre high fence it jinked up and over, disappearing from view.
But the lady inclined to embonpoint hadn’t sung, so the show wasn’t over. Ten seconds later the bird reappeared following the same track as
before, and executed two more passes as I stood entranced by virtual ringside views of this wonderfully wild and free ranging creature. Then, after watching it clear the high fence for a fourth time, it came no more. And yes, it might have been a different
individual each or some of the time. But, for what it’s worth, I had the instinctive feeling I was watching the same individual.
I assume a swarm of insects had attracted the bird(s), but couldn’t discern any and, despite scanning the skies for a further five minutes,
saw no more swifts.
