G'day again Brian,
I should have included that the typical tail posture for Fork-tailed Swift
gives the impression when viewed from a distance of parallel sided and
square-cut with a central notch, the fork is only obvious at distance when
the tail is half opened which doesn't necessarily happen a lot. When fully
fanned the very attenuated outer tail feather tips are not easy to discern
from a distance. Also importantly at this time of year a number of birds may
be in the latter stages of moult with outer tail feathers either missing or
growing in.
Cheers Jeff.
-----Original Message-----
From:
On Behalf Of Jeff Davies
Sent: Thursday, 5 March 2009 5:35 PM
To: 'Brian Johnson';
Subject: Help - House Swifts
G'day Brian,
I have an interest in Swifts from a field impression point of view, and was
wondering if you could provide some more detail.
Are you familiar with Fork-tailed Swift or did you discount this species
based on comparison with images in books, the fork-tail is often not
displayed in flight very well. Were the un-fanned tails square-cut with a
central notch or long and pointy.
Also what did the wing shape look like compared to the Needletails, similar
but on a smaller bird or much more skinny and attenuated.
Cheers Jeff.
-----Original Message-----
From:
On Behalf Of Brian Johnson
Sent: Thursday, 5 March 2009 4:54 PM
To:
Subject: Help - House Swifts
Hi all. I'm a relative newcomer to the birding folds which may explain my
scepticism on what my wife & I saw yesterday at the southern end of Bribie
Island, Q. Flying above were maybe a doz. Needletails but above them was a
flock (not counted - maybe up to 100) of what I firmly believe were House
Swifts. I didn't eyeball every single bird but of the 10 or so that I
tracked (using 12x Bins), all the necessary features seem to be evident -
small white throat, white rump wrapping around sides, tail - not forked,
quite rounded while fanned during turns, etc., body quite dark. Did not
notice any other species flying with them. Judging size was a bit of a
problem - could only relate to the occasional higher needletail - but
thought about half that size or slightly bigger. Saw them for about 2
minutes - rather lazy flying in a reasonably tight circle - didn't seem to
be feeding. Then they disappeared from sight beyond the treeline so we
couldn't follow them up. Of course, didn't have the camera - they would have
been too small anyway.
Has anyone else in the area seen House Swifts around? I know they're rather
rare visitors & so I've been right through the reference books trying to
decide if there are any other possible choices for id that I've overlooked.
Does anyone have any suggestions for other species? Any thoughts. It's got
me perplexed.
Brian Johnson
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