Pacific Swifts heading this way?

[Kim Farley via Canberrabirds <>]

Thank you for the reminder of bird times past, Philip. I recall seeing flocks of many hundreds of Needletails when I was a young thing in the 1970s. This was in Sydney, and they would fly over our house on summer afternoons and evenings, most usually when there were big dramatic pile-ups of cumulus clouds in the sky.  Lovely.

Kim

On Tue, Jan 2, 2024 at 5:25 PM Philip Veerman <> wrote:

Thanks for the suggestion. We can hope. Through the 1970s, 1980s & 1990s at least, the White-throated Needletail was a regular sighting in summer months. As in many times per year and often large numbers. I have not seen flocks of them for many years. I find that concerning. The Pacific Swifts were relatively (or comparatively) rare in eastern Australia. I have encountered much more of the Pacific Swifts than White-throated Needletails here, in the past couple decades. I also happen to like that I saw Pacific Swifts at a (likely) breeding cave in China. I can also note that, although this is an impression and not conclusive, that swifts can live in (sorry above) human altered landscape. From my 3 visits In Philippines, I found several species (hard to distinguish) are almost always present at any place, from rural places to inner city Manilla. For example at dusk, the changeover from swifts to bats takes about 10 minutes.

 

Philip

 

From: Canberrabirds [ On Behalf Of calyptorhynchus via Canberrabirds
Sent: Tuesday, 2 January, 2024 4:30 PM
To:
Subject: [Canberrabirds] Pacific Swifts heading this way?

 

Our younger son is on a road trip and around 4 pm he saw 15 Pacific Swifts over Wagga town running in front of a storm front heading our way.

 

It's expected to get here this evening, so keep your eyes peeled!

 

--

John Leonard

 

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