swifts (1 Viewer)

just joined and i have had swifts riding on the wind above my house this evening. plenty of red kites in my area especially on romney marsh area

Hi Andy, I'm a newbie here to, so much so that I'm not sure I could correctly ID a swift just yet. But I'm getting there. No red kites near me that I know of, but you are blessed with Romney marshes on your doorstep!

i think they were swifts i got a few shots of them but not that good

Welcome tot he forum!

It takes a while to get used to the differences between the four main summer visitors that spend most of their time wheeling about catching insects in the air (OK, well, I admit it, it took me a while!)

Swifts appear all dark and very sickle- or boomerang-shaped and are comparitively large compared to the three hirundines below

Swallows are mostly pale from below and all dark above, with a dark (and reddish) throat/head and long, dark tail streamers

House martin are very white below and dark from above, with much shorter, dark tail, and a prominent white rump

Sand martin are pale from below with a dark throat band, but noticeably brown-coloured.

Also, with a bit of practice, you can recognise differences in the flying style: House martin flight is more fluttery than a swallow which is faster, more direct and swooping, while sand martin are more fluttery still, and swift are very fast and look somewhat stiff-winged to me.

Finally, the calls are all quite distinct: swift calls are quite loud and screeching, while swallows are quite twittery and varied. House martin and sand martin calls are quite similar, less sustained than swallows possibly, and more chirpy and clipped, with sand martin being slightly scratchier or hoarse sounding (IMHO!)

Hi Andy

Even without seeing your pictures, I'm prepared to say that they were Swifts you were seeing. This is what they do in the evening - fly around the houses! Did you hear them screaming?

Lazza that really is an excellent description of the four of them. I might try and link that to the various Opus articles.

Every Spring I have to get my eye back in again, as I always struggle between the two martins.

hi there thanks for the reply they were defo swifts now i have had another evening of them....but thanks for advice

I can hear mine screaming round the house now.

delia todd said:

Lazza that really is an excellent description of the four of them. I might try and link that to the various Opus articles.

Every Spring I have to get my eye back in again, as I always struggle between the two martins.

Click to expand...

Thanks.... I used to find it very hard until I realised one main difference for each one! But then, with a couple of holidays each year in Spain, it all goes wrong....the distinctive white rump on a house martin might turn out to be red-rumped swallow, then throw in pallid and alpine swifts and the occasional crag martin and it all gets too much for me to cope with!

Been through that - learnt the domestics, then went to Southern Europe and eventually got used to the extra species - happy with my IDs Then went to Costa Rica and got really confused all over again!