Hi
I have already posted this to the local Cairns group but I would like ask as
wide an audience as possible.
I am relatively new to birding in Australia (emigrated from UK in March 2012)
and only moved to Cairns last November. As a result I don't have many reference
books for Aussie birds yet (waiting for HBW to go live online this year) hence
this question.
On 7th Feb I was sitting in my garden at Yorkeys Knob (just north of Cairns)
doing some work on the laptop when I noticed a group of four swifts /
swiftlets circling. I had been seeing large numbers of Fork-tailed Swifts over
the house in the last couple of weeks and was still hoping to fluke a
White-throated Needletail or possibly even a House Swift so I had a careful
look through them. There were three clear White-rumped Swiftlets but the
fourth showed no white on the rump at all. In size and structure it appeared to
be identical to the white-rumps. It had a very fluttering flight interspersed
with short glides. The tail when it was faned was slightly forked but not as
deeply as the accompanying swiftlets. It appeared to be uniformly dark all
over, there was no contrast at all between the under and upper parts, it did
not appear to be any darker than the White-rumps accompanying it. I saw the
birds twice but unfortunately not once I had grabbed my
camera.
My question is can White-rumps ever show all dark rumps?
Many thanks
Dom
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