Many thanks to Mike Tarburton and Glenn Holmes for their thoughts on the
'mixed flock' of swiftlets seen 12/8 on the western side of the Paluma
Range, ~ 90 kms out of Townsville. I have repeated their comments here to
help other birders.
Mike offered the following:
>It is a
>bit early if we go by previous Australian records - the earliest being 26
>Oct but that was last year when we had the most records in a season that I
>have records for. Maybe some have stayed in Aus & maybe you have the first
>evidence of "overwintering" in Auz. WE need to be careful here as swiftlets
>are not known to migrate and it seems that cyclone season is the main time
>they end up in Aus.
>
>Basically it is only British speculation that there is an unknown colony of
>Glossies in Aus, though they may be right - we do not have good evidence for
>it.
>
>Glossies have white around the lower stomach - vent area, not all below, and
>this can help distinguish them from martins which confuse quite a feew
>observers. Martins do fly with White-rumps sometimes, so I suggest you make
>certain yourself that they were not Tree or Fairy (imm?) Martins.
>
>Martins periodically fold their wings in against the body, whereas no
>swiftlets ever do that - and the wing shape itself is distinctive - if you
>get a good look. Wind and stability of the observer can make a difference
>here. Just a few ideas that I hope you find helpful.
>
_____I didn't see any holding of wings against the body; the flight was
very fluttery with twisting to either side, and the birds appeared to
momentarily 'hang' in the sky, which I have never seen martins do.
Glenn commented:
"The underparts of White-rumped Swiftlets often appear whitish in good light.
With additional effects caused by distance, viewing angle, age and moult,
birds in a flock often seem quite variable in plumage.
Glossy Swiftlets are very different in appearance. A description giving
much more detail than underpart colour would be required to validate a
report. Although you may expect odd individuals in the Wet, especially on
CYP (e.g. Iron Range), occurrence at the latitude of Paluma in winter would
be extraordinary."
Thanks once again to these respondants.
Alex Appleman
Townsville
PS - as well as the Aussie swift/swiftlet species - White-rumped Swiflet,
Fork-tailed Swifts and White-throated Needletails I have seen Uniform
(Lowland) Swiftlets in PNG, House (Little) Swifts in Singapore and some
very dark martins which I could not positively identify swooping along the
Seine in Paris and in the Lake District in England.
Ducks are much easier......
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