ML132918741

Age

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Sex

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Observation details

After Howard spotted the first bird flying high over the Walker ponds, we spent an extended period of time studying what ended up being at least six or eight of these birds as they cruised back-and-forth over the ponds generally rather high, but at times quite low overhead. The light was also a bit better than it was the previous day, so I was able to get some nice photos. The most birds that I ever saw was six, but Howard thought he saw as many as seven in one pass and for the first hour or so, we saw only one bird (though two or three birds were regularly seen together late in our visit). I never did hear these birds call, but our views of them were generally quite good. These birds had a rather slow flight that generally lacked both the rapid flapping of the smaller swifts and the constant shifts in direction, so they instead flew with a more direct flight and a great deal of gliding. Then these birds did flap, they did so with deeper wing-beats and slower flaps. These were conspicuously large swifts that I estimated to be almost twice the size of the swallows and maybe 30-50% larger than the one or two White-throated Swifts that we saw today. More unlike the White-throated Swifts, however, were the slower wing-beats, more extensive gliding, wings that were held conspicuously downward when the birds were gliding, and bodies that were quite a bit plumper overall and with much less extending behind the wings than is typical of White-throated Swift. I again noted that the head was large, rounded, and extending only a short distance in front of the leading edge of the wings. I also noted specifically today that the bill was short and inconspicuous. The wings were very long, slim, and tapering to pointed tips, but I did not think they were as angled backward at the wrists as was the bird seen the previous day, so the wings generally appeared to be more smoothly swept backward. The body was really quite plump behind the wings, so it did not have the cigar-like shape that is typical of White-throated Swifts, and the tail generally appeared to be square-tipped when closed or weakly notched when spread. I thought the extension of the body behind the trailing edge of the wings was about the same as what extended forward from this point. These birds generally appeared entirely black when seen against the cloudy skies, but when the sun hit them just right, and especially when against the blue sky, the color appeared more sooty than truly black (i.e., with at least some brownish tones to the black). I was also able to note at times, and typically when these birds were seen against a dark gray cloud and with the sun hitting them, that the forehead was whitish and that the remiges may have been more brownish than the rest of the bird, but apart from this, little contrast was apparent. I thought the bill and eyes were dark, ore more appropriately, neither of them appeared to be obviously pale.

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