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Swift Parrot (Lathamus discolor)
A couple of birds from June last year when a birding mate and I managed to see the two critically endangered Parrots here in Southern Australia in the space of four days.
Spain; Alicante, Clot de Galvany 12/9/21.
I still find these one of THE identification conundrums of late summer/autumn. Juvenile Common Swifts are the major problem as adults are usually moulting. In spring, I find Pallid Swifts can be blindingly obvious… they’re all adults; but in late summer juvenile Common Swifts can certainly muddy the waters. I’ve tentatively identified and sometimes aged these when obviously moulting adults. Slightly broader wings and slightly blunter tail on Pallid can help, but of course with birds moulting outer primaries that can go out the window...
The light plays a big part, but as ever the major thing is experience… I don’t watch Pallid Swift every day of the week, at least not in central France...
When I was a twitcher in the UK it was easy, like black and white. I just read it in a book so it must be so. Then I started watching Pallids in late summer in the early 1980’s and pretty soon realised that it wasn’t quite like that… such are the joys of birding… always learning.
Time to say goodbye to these for another year. The skies seem empty over my house without the screams.
I wanted to post a tribute to my old friend Ed Swift from Warren, MA. Ed was an avid railfan photographer who passed away in 2009. Ed served his country as an aviator in WW II, Korea and Vietnam. He flew transport planes at the end of the war in the Pacific including a forced landing in the ocean with all the crew surviving. Ed loved his classic Alpa cameras as he is holding in this picture in Palmer, MA on March 28, 2003.
Photo by Andy
Shot 1 of 5
Photographing swifts feels a bit like playing a video game, with targets flying at you from random angles at ridiculous speeds.
Helen and I have been enjoying trying to keep these amazing birds in frame immensely and it's been a real thrill having these speedsters whizzing past us, often passing by within a few feet so you could hear the whoosh as they passed by.
We wondered whether they were paying us such close attention because we were attracting the insects (some of which bite) that they were feeding on.
Interesting fact "As the bird is hunting, insects are collected in the back of the throat in a special food pouch and bound together with saliva into a ball called a bolus, which is periodically eaten or taken to the nest. These food balls can contain thousands of insects.
Read more at www.rspb.org.uk/birds-and-wildlife/bird-and-wildlife-guid...;
A critically endangered bird with estimates to be between 300 and 2,000 left in the wild. Taken at Taronga Zoo. I've been trying to get a decent photo of one for years.
Early morning i found two baby swift. They are already fed, in 15-20 days they will be ready to fly.
A Swift Fox (Vulpes fulva) stands guard at the entrance to her den with several young on the prairie landscape in southeast Alberta, Canada.
28 June, 2009.
Slide # GWB_20090628_4154.CR2
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On a brief visit to corfu Town on an excursion. Managed to see Alpine swift in plentiful numbers also pallid and common swift along with swallow and house Martins. Feeding to high up for a side on shot. Nonetheless Great to see
About 1,500 of this type of car were made at the Swift Factory in Mile Lane, Coventry. It would have cost £595 when new. This 1923 Swift Tourer, ES 5309, was purchased by the Coventry Transport Museum in 2003 with aid from the Preservation Scientific and Industrial Museums Fund.
Tracking a swift over the water is something I love to try. It eats batteries, makes the arm muscles burn and fills up memory cards with blurry shots really quickly.
The Swift is the most popular fly fishing destination in Massachusetts, with maybe the exception of the Deerfield: great scenery, many big fish, and it fishes well all year-round.
But, it is also the most technical fishery in Massachusetts, and it can be a real challenge to hook the super-picky rainbows. With some research, you can find out a lot about the river... (see below link).
Not an easy bird to track in flight and focus on by any means. Found the only way I had any chance - with their speed and jinxing flight pattern - was to try and lock on some way off and follow them in.
The fastest accurately measured bird in the world under its own power (Peregrines are faster in a stoop but not in level flight).
I like the way the feet seem to fold into the body to improve its aerodynamics.
Taken in Norfolk.
Featuted Items...
AVALE - Swift
for Kalhene (Erika), Inithium (Kupra), Legacy, Slink (Hourglass), Maitreya (Lara), Belleza (Isis & Freya)
@Cosmopalitan - maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/No%20Comment/128/67/22
- Sweet Art - Ariel Static Set @Mainstore - maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Lunar%20and%20Friends/148/...
After much failure I finally got one flying at me! Not perfect by any stretch, but still feels Yippee to me!
Photo by Helen :-)
A straight swift stopping over at the blue mistflower.
Parnara guttata (Straight swift or Common straight swift, ‘Ichimonji-seseri’ in Japanese) is a species of butterfly in the skipper family, native to Japan and eastern Asia. Conoclinium coelestinum (Mistflower, formerly Eupatorium coelestinum) is a perennial flowering plant in the aster family, native to North America.
So... Whilst waiting for the American golden plover to come closer, which it didn't, I rattled off several hundred swift in flight shots... The great majority of these were blurry blobs in flight shots or wing tip just poking into the frame shots, both of which were definitely not aesthetically pleasing. After wasting a considerable amount of time trying to achieve an impossible goal for old fat people, I took the converter off, this improved things immensely, I could now, at least, track a bird. As the day wore on and the wind increased, they came much closer to the ground and I actually got a frame I liked.
(Removing your converter increases field of view and does NOT reduce your BMI... It is recommended that eating a heathy, mixed diet, preferably vegan, and getting plenty of exercise will address your sofa slug with a camera syndrome).
Tealham moor
Found this cute (and a bit worn out) moth wet at the inner side of one of Disa's water bowls. Brought it outside where it was drying and soon it was flying away.
Morning capture there along the Swift River and the covered bridge located at Conway, New Hampshire.
Lovely to nab a swift yesterday. Caught this one mid catch, the fly had no hope. The light was a bit iffy and I was struggling a little to get back in the flow having barely used my camera over the last few months.