birding-aus Rarity Files

[Phil Gregory <>]

Good point from David James about the possibility of some of the
Red-rumped Swallows being Striated Swallows. I sent a description of one
I saw in Feb 99 to the committee and queried whether they knew enough to
tell it from Striated Swallow, in which case please advise! The only
Australian specimen of Red-rumped was picked up dead by Mike Carter, and
proved to be of the Japanese race. I'd dearly like to know how to
separate them in the field, the literature is very confusing and all our
New Guinea records are basically either Red-rumped or Striated Swallows
until the field characters get sorted out.
Why are the files confidential though? Surely this is a classic case
where transparency should be the order of the day, perhaps just
abstracting the relevant descriptions and correspondence as appropriate.
Over to Tony Palliser.......
Phil Gregory


To unsubscribe from this list, please send a message to

Include ONLY "unsubscribe birding-aus" in the message body (without the
quotes)