Frank,
The BARC case summary for the Pacific Swallow submission involving birds
in the hand near Mossman can be found at:
http://users.bigpond.net.au/palliser/barc/sub197.html The Birds
Australia Rarities Committee concluded the captured individual was a
female Welcome Swallow.
For anyone heading up to this area to look at swallows or who suspects
they may have seen a Pacific Swallow elsewhere within Australia this
summary would be well worth a read. It is still entirely possible that
this species occurs in Australia, indeed some of the short-tailed birds
that appear near Mossman in most years may be Pacific Swallows. The
catch is the identification of individuals in the field is extremely
difficult and criteria for identification are still evolving. As it
stands there are no confirmed records in the country, even for those
areas closest to the species known range (i.e. northern Torres Strait)
Cheers,
Rohan
___________________________________
Dr Rohan Clarke
Zoologist
mobile: 0429 792 906
Biosis Research Pty. Ltd.
Natural and Cultural Heritage Consultants
38 Bertie Street (PO Box 489)
Port Melbourne, Vic 3207
ph: (03) 9646 9499
fax: (03) 9646 9242
___________________________________
-----Original Message-----
From:
On Behalf Of Frank
O'Connor
Sent: Wednesday, 1 February 2006 7:13 PM
To:
Subject: Re: PACIFIC SWALLOW V. WELCOME SWALLOW IMM.
Lorne Johnson raised this topic.
The Pacific Swallow has not been accepted for Australia. I understood
that the swallows in question had been mist netted and banded. I saw
them many years ago north of Mossman at a chicken farm, where they had
been reported by others. The birds that I saw did not have white spots
on the tail. Rather they had a white sub terminal bar on each side of
the tail. I have taken an interest in Welcome Swallows ever since, and
these are still the only Welcome Swallows that I have seen with bars on
the tail, rather than spots. They had the less forked tail, etc. This
was a while ago, but there were at least three birds from memory, maybe
as many as six.
So why were these birds not accepted?
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