Hi Dom, Alan, Mike & all other swift enthusiasts...
I think that it is very important when looking through groups of Fork-tailed
Swifts for House Swifts that a number of things need to be considered...
There a usually a high proportion of Fork-tails visiting our parts undergoing
some tail &/or some wing moult, giving them a rather similar shape to House
Swifts. Also to compound the ID difficulty, the white throat patch is rather
variable amongst Fork-tails as well, with most showing the usual smaller & more
diffuse white patch, whilst some others do show a brighter white & more
clear-cut throat patch (so that it resembles the throat of a House Swift).
What I have also looked for to help i.d. House Swifts are the darker underparts
that lack the paler edges/tips typical of Fork-taileds in fresh plumage, which
most are (I think?!) when in these parts in summer.
Therefore, I think if you have a short & broad tailed swift with shorter &
slightly broader wings than a Fork-tail, combined with a bright white &
clear-cut throat patch (ie. throat patch like a needletail), & then combined
with darker underbody parts without any scaly appearance....then & only then,
you are most probably looking at a House Swift.
Incidentally, I am yet to see any Fork-tails (or House) this season near Cairns
- having moved away from the northern side of Cairns to the southern side has
meant that I'm living in a very flat area inland on the coastal plain, well
away from the foothills & coastline that these birds usually favour.
It would be great if you guys get to look more closely at these House
Swift-like birds when you next see some, as I would not be surprised that one
or two actually were indeed House Swifts!! I have myself at least 5 records of
them to the north of Cairns in the last 16 years.
If Mike or anyone else has other ID features for House Swifts against
Fork-tails then I think we all would benefit from them... I think that smaller
size for House Swifts is mostly due to shorter tail length, so that
tail-moulting Foork-tails appear similar in size (happy to be correcetd on this
feature, Mike...)
Cheers for now,
Martin Cachard,
Cairns,
> Date: Fri, 11 Jan 2013 05:28:16 +0000
> From:
> To: ; ;
>
> Subject: Re: [Birding-Aus] Swifts
>
> Hi
> Interesting I have had an influx of fork-tails over Yorkeys Knob the last
> couple of days. On Thursday there were about 35+ over my house from early
> afternoon onwards. Today this has increased to over 150 birds, the fock has
> been highly mobile and difficult to keep in view. Within the flock there were
> several clear Fork-tails in wing moult and at least two others that I took to
> be in tail moult as when they spread their tails they were very square. The
> variability in white on the throat was quite marked in birds that came low
> enough to be studied properly, some having very bright clearly defined white
> chin patches and others far less distinctly marked.
> Dom
>
>
>
>
> ________________________________
> From: Alan Gillanders <>
> To: Mike Tarburton <>; birding-aus
> <>
> Sent: Friday, 11 January 2013, 8:14
> Subject: [Birding-Aus] Swifts
>
> Mike,
> At least 17 Fork-tailed Swifts hawking over Petersen Creek Yungaburra
> yesterday evening. Maximum number something like 25.
>
> There were also two other swifts there which I did not get good enough looks
> at to identify. They may have been Fork-tails in tail moult but one had a
> clear white throat. They may have been House Swifts. My impression was a
> smaller swift with a flight more like that of the Swiftlets. They were not
> Swiftlets.
> Regards,
> Alan
> ===============================
>
> To unsubscribe from this mailing list,
> send the message:
> unsubscribe
> (in the body of the message, with no Subject line)
> to:
>
> http://birding-aus.org
> ===============================
> ===============================
>
> To unsubscribe from this mailing list,
> send the message:
> unsubscribe
> (in the body of the message, with no Subject line)
> to:
>
> http://birding-aus.org
> ===============================
===============================
To unsubscribe from this mailing list,
send the message:
unsubscribe
(in the body of the message, with no Subject line)
to:
http://birding-aus.org
===============================
|
