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Fork-tailed Swifts - Lapstone - NSW

To: Graham Turner <>, Baus <>
Subject: Fork-tailed Swifts - Lapstone - NSW
From: Michael <>
Date: Mon, 13 Feb 2006 19:21:29 +1100
on 7/2/06 13:55, Graham Turner at wrote:
. My guess is that it was just a fork-tail but with maybe some outer tail feathers missing. Any thoughts on this?

Dear B'ausers & Graham

Fork-tailed Swifts, Little Swifts and White-rumped Swiftlets can be difficult to tell apart, sometimes, even to those experienced with these species.  In December I watched a Fork-tailed Swift in the Solomon Islands for half an hour and saw the tail open only once.  I was watching very closely because this is the first record that I am aware of for the Solomon Islands and wanted to be very sure of the ID.

I have had similar experiences in Australia so patience and the use of changing light conditions can help sort out which of the three you are watching.

Happy swift and swiftlet watching

Cheers

Mike


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Prof Mike Tarburton

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