Swift ID! Need a swift reply! (1 Viewer)

Hey,

Ok, so I was at the top of my drive way when I noticed some birds flying in the distance. I fist thought they were swallows but then I realized they were Swifts. I looked at them for a long time but since it was bad lighting and I have never seen a swift before and didn't know what key features I should be looking for I was lost. Luckily, there is only two common swifts were I live; the Black and the Vaux's.

Here are a few things that may help in the ID:

-I saw them in the day time, between noon and 1PM.

-They were mostly black.

-They seemed bigger then a swallow but I'm not sure.

Sorry for such little info, I'm just hoping the time they were active will help.:-C

Thanks

BC

I think you'll probably want better views than what you were able to describe here. If it helps you at all, though, we've found over the years that Black Swifts in the west Kootenay are much easier to find in the late afternoon than at mid-day--but I'd hate to identify a bird that way.
Keep looking!

From my experiences with Vaux's (that's said "Vawkses") and Black Swifts in BC, Vaux's often associating with barn Swallows and flies high with them. I only saw Black Swifts once, and they were flying slowly near Whistler mountain. They seemed to be huge for reason. I guess it was because the last swifts I saw were the Vaux's, even though i'm used to seeing Chimneys.