ML161730491

Age and sex

Adult, Unknown sex - X

Observation details

Small, cigar shaped swift, uniformly brown with paler throat. Silent. In the field I had no idea whether this was Chimney or Vaux's. After studying online resources, I started to lean toward Chimney Swift given the long wings and the bulging inner primaries. I asked for a few opinions. Tony Leukering said, "I’d go with CHSW, due to the ss bulge and the apparent lack of a paler rump. However, I’m not all that comfortable with Chaetura." Steve Mlodinow added, "I agree with Tony, looks much like a Chimney Swift. For the points Tony makes and this bird has the lankier jizz of a CHSW rather than the stubby feel of Vaux's." I will add that three days after seeing this bird, I was in Oregon and got to study Vaux's Swift, and it quickly struck me as a much faster-flapping bird than the one I'd seen in Utah, with shorter and straighter-edged wings. For all these reasons, I am now comfortable calling this a Chimney Swift. NOTE: This record was accepted by the Utah Bird Records Committee as the second confirmed record for Utah.

Technical information

Model

Canon EOS 70D

ISO

2500

Focal length

400 mm

Flash

Flash did not fire, auto

f-stop

f/5.6

Shutter speed

1/1000 sec

Dimensions

973 pixels x 738 pixels

Original file size

191.94 KB