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Mince Pies to the skies guys? (1 Viewer)

KenM

KenM

Well-known member
Snapping away (perhaps 60 frames) at a party of Swallows (NE London, circa a dozen) on Wednesday late afternoon, thought I caught a glimpse (through the viewfinder) of a slither of ''white rump''. Further extensive searching through the bins yielded nowt!, however whilst reviewing and deleting most of the ''out of focus'' shots yesterday, I came across this image! Subsequent looking yesterday again proved negative, clearly or should I say fuzzily....a Swallow with a white rump...a pity I couldn't have procured a better image. :-C
 

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andyadcock said:
Why white, why not Red-rumped?


A
Click to expand...

I suppose always a possibility andy!....I just wish that I'd seen it "consciously" through the bins, a better assessment hopefully would have followed. I'm afraid it will have to be one that got away, and as I didn't see it through the bins, will have to defer to the latter.

Cheers
 
Looks the right colour to me too Ken! I see a lot of RR Swallows here and the rump is very often much paler than shown in Collins, often just a very pale pink wash.

Chris
 
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It's also got 2 or 3 whitish outer primaries - leucistic Barn Swallow seems plausible to me. Or even more likely, a normal Barn Swallow where the outer primaries and the rump are suitably angled to reflect bright sun.
 
Scridifer said:
Looks the right colour to me too Ken! I see a lot of RR Swallows here and the rump is very often much paper than shown in Collins, often just a very pale pink wash.

Chris
Click to expand...

Thanks Chris!....much as I'd like to, I think I will have to defer to Swallow sp. For me the real buzz was...(assuming that most birders have "squinted" through the viewfinder of a camera?), a tiny viewing area with (in this case) small black deltas whizzing past from all directions, and continually half depressing the shutter release, hoping that the sensor will focus...before the subject disappears "out the frame". It was thinking that that I'd seen a nano-second slither of white to the rump, and then finding out a day later that my "mince pies" were still 20-20 through a viewfinder! I was trying to get a good sharpish image of a Swallow, and instead "unwittingly" ended up with quite the opposite, and perhaps controversial "to boot". :-O
 
KenM said:
Thanks Chris!....much as I'd like to, I think I will have to defer to Swallow sp. For me the real buzz was...(assuming that most birders have "squinted" through the viewfinder of a camera?), a tiny viewing area with (in this case) small black deltas whizzing past from all directions, and continually half depressing the shutter release, hoping that the sensor will focus...before the subject disappears "out the frame". It was thinking that that I'd seen a nano-second slither of white to the rump, and then finding out a day later that my "mince pies" were still 20-20 through a viewfinder! I was trying to get a good sharpish image of a Swallow, and instead "unwittingly" ended up with quite the opposite, and perhaps controversial "to boot". :-O
Click to expand...


Agree totally Ken, nice to know that the " Eyeball Mark 1" is still up to the job occasionally!

Chris
 
KenM said:
Thanks Chris!....much as I'd like to, I think I will have to defer to Swallow sp. For me the real buzz was...(assuming that most birders have "squinted" through the viewfinder of a camera?), a tiny viewing area with (in this case) small black deltas whizzing past from all directions, and continually half depressing the shutter release, hoping that the sensor will focus...before the subject disappears "out the frame". It was thinking that that I'd seen a nano-second slither of white to the rump, and then finding out a day later that my "mince pies" were still 20-20 through a viewfinder! I was trying to get a good sharpish image of a Swallow, and instead "unwittingly" ended up with quite the opposite, and perhaps controversial "to boot". :-O
Click to expand...

Its a pity you didn't ID it with bins before missing the moments shooting - that way, either; no doubt over the ID but no photo - or; no doubt over the ID and a photo. For me these two scenarios are preferable to an impossible image of bird not IDeed ;)

On RRS I'd expect to see some paleness around the head and throat on this image. Yes, many RRS adults often have bleached rumps by now and juvs have cream rumps - still a few with rusty tones though. I think its a BS showing white undertail at an angle - giving an impression of a pale rump....but no, I'm not sure!
 
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Simon Wates said:
Its a pity you didn't ID it with bins before missing the moments shooting - that way, either; no doubt over the ID but no photo - or; no doubt over the ID and a photo. For me these two scenarios are preferable to an impossible image of bird not IDeed ;)

On RRS I'd expect to see some paleness around the head and throat on this image. Yes, many RRS adults often have bleached rumps by now and juvs have cream rumps - still a few with rusty tones though. I think its a BS showing white undertail at an angle - giving an impression of a pale rump....but no, I'm not sure!
Click to expand...

Would Barn Swallow have moulted outer tail now, this bird seems to have a full tail unless it's the shot?


A
 
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