Close encounter of the swift kind in Wagga Wagga

[Kevin and Gwenyth Bray <>]

Hi John and Philip

 

As a very amateur “birdo” forgive me if my question/comment is silly, but since John says the bird he saw was “noticeably larger ...”, is there any likelihood it may have been a White-throated Needletail?  (I suspect the answer is “no”, since according to The Australian Bird Guide (p 322), a W-T Needletail weighs 80-140 g, while a Pacific Swift (Fork-tailed Swift – Apus pacificus?) is just 26-52 g.  Also, the white markings on these two birds are quite different).

 

In any case, my main reason for asking is that my son, who lives just east of the Hume and Snowy Mt Hwys intersection, in the Mt Adrah area, about 15 km west of Adelong (and not all that far from Wagga), says he has seen a W-T Needletail there for the first time.

 

I’ve not spoken to him about it yet, so I don’t know if he saw an isolated  bird or several/many of them, nor the height it/they flew at, etc.

 

Would it be unusual to have seen a W-T Needletail in the Mt Adrah area?

 

Thanks.

 

Kevin Bray

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

From:

Sent: Tuesday, January 30, 2018 12:54 PM

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Subject: RE: [canberrabirds] Close encounter of the swift kind in Wagga Wagga

 

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.