birding-aus Swifts

[Phil Gregory <>]

At the risk of  being controversial, I can't see how David James can
tell someone that there square tailed white rumped swifts were certainly
not Little Swifts and were therefore Fork-tails in moult. This is a
possibility certainly, maybe even likely, but certainly? I don't think
so.
I suspect Little Swift is often overlooked or misidentified and may be
much more regular than realised. I saw one in Dec 98 and another in Jan
99, plus various probables that were not seen well enough to be sure.
Confusion with White-rumped Swiftlet is possible on distant or poor
views, but given a good look they should be easy enough to tell.  The
jizz is quite different from Fork-tails, moulting or not........
Keep a look out for them, the stormy weather is bringing lots of swifts
through.
Phil Gregory


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