Possible 1st for Austria - Swift sp. (1 Viewer)

[Bitis]

This Swift sp. was posted on iNaturalist as a Common Swift. Some people suggested it could be a Pallid Swift, which would be a 1st for Austria.
What do you think?

Pallid Swift (Apus pallidus)

Pallid Swift from Erdberg, Wien, Österreich on July 7, 2023 at 09:51 AM by el manuel. Leider tot in der Stadt gefunden

www.inaturalist.org

 

[tconzemi]

I guess the bird is gone by now and you have only this one picture? In that case you must be very brave to ID it as Pallid. There are two generations of coverts on the wing and the new one are blackish, the old one bleached under African sun

 

[tconzemi]

And this would be the first Pallid Swift for Luxembourg (15.12.2022), somehow these swifts are difficut to get pictures of, even when dead

 

[kuzeycem]

iNaturalist is such a joke...

 

[Bitis]

I guess the bird is gone by now and you have only this one picture? In that case you must be very brave to ID it as Pallid. There are two generations of coverts on the wing and the new one are blackish, the old one bleached under African sun

Unfortunately yes, the finder said, that this is the only picture he took of this bird.
Thank you very much for your thoughts! I'm curious what the decision of the AFK will be.

 

[Bitis]

And this would be the first Pallid Swift for Luxembourg (15.12.2022), somehow these swifts are difficut to get pictures of, even when dead

Wow, to ID a Swift from this picture ist probably impossible I guess 😅

 

[Valéry Schollaert]

iNaturalist is such a joke...

I found it very helpful to identify reptiles and frogs in Mexico.

 

[Bitis]

iNaturalist is such a joke...

I think it can be a really good "tool" for some things and there are a lot of experts that help with ID. Maybe not everything is identified correctly, but with a little care it's very valuable IMO.

So do you think it's a Common Swift then?

 

[Butty]

I found it very helpful to identify reptiles and frogs on Mexico.

It's useful for many things in many places, but not much use for birds anywhere - or certainly not if you're a birder.

 

[Jos Stratford]

iNaturalist is also a useful resource for butterfly localities/species, often the only resource in some countries

 

[chowchilla]

Pallids are tricky.

We had a Pallid Swift (possibly more than one) on Scilly last year and a ton of people had to set eyes on it before a consensus could be reached. One thing I did notice about it was the more languid flight. It also had noticeably contrasting primaries and secondaries. Whether those are clinching IDs, I do not know, but they did stand out. The bird put on quite a show for us - I nearly brushed it with my finger tips as it flew over my head - so at least there are a ton of good pics of it out there.

 

[kuzeycem]

I think it can be a really good "tool" for some things and there are a lot of experts that help with ID. Maybe not everything is identified correctly, but with a little care it's very valuable IMO.

So do you think it's a Common Swift then?

I just don't like the formula of the site: unknown people with unknown qualifications/expertise give haphazard IDs which turns the obs. into "research grade" (whatever that means). It results in an insanely high ratio of error from what I've seen, at least back when I decided to check it out for Turkey.
As for the swift, I'm not seeing much reason for it to not be a Common; but I don't think you'll be getting a definite answer from this photo only.

 

[Bismarck Honeyeater]

It wasn’t that many years ago that birders realised Pallid Swift was breeding in Switzerland, so it can’t be discounted. But from one image I don’t think you stand a chance of getting a firm ID.

 

[Bitis]

I just don't like the formula of the site: unknown people with unknown qualifications/expertise give haphazard IDs which turns the obs. into "research grade" (whatever that means). It results in an insanely high ratio of error from what I've seen, at least back when I decided to check it out for Turkey.
As for the swift, I'm not seeing much reason for it to not be a Common; but I don't think you'll be getting a definite answer from this photo only.

Fair enough, you are not wrong, it has some flaws. But it's also a huge amount of data. Would be probably impossible to just let only "experts" check it. And for some specific taxons I know that people one would call "expert" check the data regularly. Also if you use the data for data bases or something like that, the data is there, you have to check it yourself though. It's really valuable also if you are looking for a specific species and want to know locations, for example if you are on holidays.
So yes, it hast some flaws, and you have to use it with care, but I think it can be really useful and valuable.
Thank you also for your thoughts about the Swift

 

[Bitis]

Pallids are tricky.

We had a Pallid Swift (possibly more than one) on Scilly last year and a ton of people had to set eyes on it before a consensus could be reached. One thing I did notice about it was the more languid flight. It also had noticeably contrasting primaries and secondaries. Whether those are clinching IDs, I do not know, but they did stand out. The bird put on quite a show for us - I nearly brushed it with my finger tips as it flew over my head - so at least there are a ton of good pics of it out there.

Thank you!

 

[Bitis]

It wasn’t that many years ago that birders realised Pallid Swift was breeding in Switzerland, so it can’t be discounted. But from one image I don’t think you stand a chance of getting a firm ID.

Very interesting, thank you!