Phil Carter
Well-known member
It's definitely NOT a Pratincole!!!!!
Phil
Phil
-
Welcome to BirdForum, the internet's largest birding community with thousands of members from all over the world. The forums are dedicated to wild birds, birding, binoculars and equipment and all that goes with it.
Please register for an account to take part in the discussions in the forum, post your pictures in the gallery and more.
What could it be ? Essex (1 Viewer)
- Thread starter bicknell64
- Start date
Jane Turner
Well-known member
Its dangerous to read too much into wingshape. These are certain House Martins
Attachments
birdboybowley
Well-known member.....apparently so ;)
In fact Jane, all 3 are 
The_Partridge
Well-known member
right
Tranmere fan or not, I'll not take such truc
this is war
put me down for Little Swift somebody
RichardBaatsen
Well-known member
House Martin
I go for House Martin
I go for House Martin
Mike Montier
Well-known member
As a pretty bad bird photographer in the past I know wing shape can be so distorted and mean little in one photo as Jane shows in her examples of House martins. Light also plays many tricks so I would go for House martin on this one.
From what I can see of this one workshopped image, this is a HOUSE MARTIN - no doubt about it - Jane has clearly proved how warped House Martins can appear when photographed in action. I certainly see no Little Swifts in it
Incidentally, correct me if I'm wrong, but weren't the only Little Swifts reported in Britain this year (two birds together in West Cornwall) misidentified House Martins. I certainly received a phone call from on-site claiming as such.
Incidentally, correct me if I'm wrong, but weren't the only Little Swifts reported in Britain this year (two birds together in West Cornwall) misidentified House Martins. I certainly received a phone call from on-site claiming as such.
That's just rubbish! someone more than a little miffed that they arrived too late more like! The two Little Swifts were seen with House Martins and with Common Swifts.
Colin
Could be just rubbish, as you say - but that's what I was told - and nearly three quarters of an hour later the birds were still being phoned in. As you know, none of the 25 or so birders that followed up your original phone calls failed to locate the birds. I am assuming you didn't get any photographs of the birds which is surprising, particularly as some of the species you do manage to catch on film (flyover Red Kites and the like). I have on file that yourself, Derek Julian and Chris Bond saw the two birds but I can confirm that the 2pm claim definitely related to two House Martins. They were both presumably last seen at 1.15pm
Could be just rubbish, as you say - but that's what I was told - and nearly three quarters of an hour later the birds were still being phoned in. As you know, none of the 25 or so birders that followed up your original phone calls failed to locate the birds. I am assuming you didn't get any photographs of the birds which is surprising, particularly as some of the species you do manage to catch on film (flyover Red Kites and the like). I have on file that yourself, Derek Julian and Chris Bond saw the two birds but I can confirm that the 2pm claim definitely related to two House Martins. They were both presumably last seen at 1.15pm
Jane Turner
Well-known member
Hmm... when this thread turn sour(er), its going to be hard to plead the I didn't say or do anything card
Last edited:
draycotebirding
Draycote recorder
Lee, My only sighting that day 21 04 2011 was a few minutes after 11:00 when I picked them up over Coronation Park, I managed to watch them with difficulty (moving around a lot) for around 4-6 mins and tried unsuccessfully to take some decent photos, if there had been any doubt that they were Little Swift I would have reported them as ‘possible’ but still reported them, as the birds drifted over towards Derek’s house, I then phoned him to alert him and around 10 mins later he phoned me back to confirm that he had picked up 2 Little Swift and he would put out the news. This just happened to be a day that I had to the leave the house for business but Derek called me several times to tell me that birds were still showing over the Park, sometimes very near my house, last call just after 13:00. Why is it you felt it necessary to publicly trash this record without speaking to one of us first? We should be applauded for putting the news out so quickly! 'News' does not usually give any guarantee, this is after all “North Cornwall” not the best spot for news in past years and this sort of thing only gives the suppressers a more legitimate excuse, and have we already reached the point in birding that, if we own a camera and we do not manage to produce a good image we just keep the news to ourselves?
Colin
Last edited:
Colin, I wasn't there so I cannot comment from a personal point of view. I did however respond to the report as soon as it was broadcast, particularly as it was an unprecedented occurrence in the UK. Several birders responded immediately to the message and were on site very rapidly but I think all the doubt crept in, when news came through whilst several were observing from the car park that the birds were still there with a timed update. At that time, the only birds to be seen were 2 House Martins amongst the Common Swifts and people put two and two together (this was clearly a long time after your initial sighting). As a result of that, it seems that birders mistakenly believed these birds to be what were being watched. I only spoke with birders that day who were on site and did not return to investigate until much later after - several weeks in fact when I was writing a summary. Thanks very much for detailing your sighting - I need to add it to the number of species recorded in Britain this year as this is the only report. I assume you have submitted the record to BBRC.
Lee, I would imagine this is not only time this sort of thing has happened. Yes I submitted the record, at the time to BBRC and the County Recorder and I'm hoping that others do the same.
Colin
Tib78
Well-known member
Incidentally, I was watching/photographing Little Swifts yesterday evening and when reviewing my (poor...) pictures on the camera screen, I came across a pic of a bird taken from the same angle and with the same wings position...and it immediatly reminded me of the OP's bird (a bird I had discussed privately with Bicknell subsequently).
I'll try to upload the pic tonight.
Edit: to be clear, I still think the subject bird is a House Martin...just the bird I photographed yesterday was in the same position and I want to post the picture for comparison...
I'll try to upload the pic tonight.
Edit: to be clear, I still think the subject bird is a House Martin...just the bird I photographed yesterday was in the same position and I want to post the picture for comparison...
Last edited:
Jane Turner
Well-known member
Yes you can see the concave back edge to the primaries very nicely, compared to the convex shape of Martins
Attachments
Tib78
Well-known member
Exactly what I was hoping for: one of Jane's famous side by side comparison :t:
Note also shape of white rump, amount of white on head etc...
The_Partridge
Well-known member
and one Little Swift showing convex wing shape
http://www0.hku.hk/ecology/hkbirds/images/little_swift/little_swift.JPG
http://www0.hku.hk/ecology/hkbirds/images/little_swift/little_swift.JPG
birdboybowley
Well-known member.....apparently so ;)
But a limited and not very white looking throat...even in the original pic the white went up just below where the eyes are....
Similar threads
