Birds love mud (well, some of them do): possibly Pallid Swifts? (1 Viewer)

[Swifto]

I was lucky to see some of these swifts in Languedoc Roussillon last week; the area around the Hotel de Thermes in Molitg les Bains (Pays Catalan). Are they Pallid Swift? And the other image here is Hawfinch (nice to get a photo of on the ground, and looking at me too!). The juvenile swifts were so lovely and obliging. I wasn't sure if they were also lifting mud, but the others seemed to be obsessed with it. They flew to large nearby rocks (nests, presumably) and on the banks of a fine river.

 

[Kits]

Welcome to Birdforum. I hope you enjoy your visits.

 

[Butty]

The swifts are all adult crag martins. The hawfinch is a hawfinch 👍🏻
Common swifts don't build with mud, and I don't imagine pallid swifts are any different.

 

[Sangahyando]

Perching on windowsills like shown in the pictures above seems to be typical for Crag Martins.

The swifts are all adult crag martins. The hawfinch is a hawfinch 👍🏻
Common swifts don't build with mud, and I don't imagine pallid swifts are any different.

Also, swifts (at least the European species) don't sit on the ground unless there's something wrong with them.

 

[njlarsen]

Also, swifts (at least the European species) don't sit on the ground unless there's something wrong with them.

I believe I was told that swifts cannot get airborne again after being on the ground when I was a lot younger (caused by them having legs that are much shorter than what is seen in the images). I assume this is still true?
Niels

 

[Swifto]

Excellent and thank you for this information. Crag martins eh? Any images I could find of Pallid Swift did not show their legs so I was unsure.