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Swift, tern, Fuerteventura February (1 Viewer)

Plain for me - Pallid would have a pale face. Seems oddly chunky bodied too for pallid/common. I think it looks weird due to the exposure, as mentioned upthread.
 
I'm still unhappy with the identification as Sandwich Tern. At first glance the bird might look like one, but there are some details that don't fit: In none of the pictures I can see a yellow tip to the bill. As stated above the tail is very long and the bird very slim, which is at least unusual in Sandwich Tern. Furthermore, I miss the dark outer primaries and the trailing edge on the underside of the primaries, which is thinner than I'd expect in Sandwich Tern.

Maffong
 
Roseate tern and Pallid swifts.

As said, Plain is rare in the Eastern islands of the archipelago. And the «*rotund*» body shape really doesn’t fit Plain swfit.
 
Roseate tern and Pallid swifts.

As said, Plain is rare in the Eastern islands of the archipelago. And the «*rotund*» body shape really doesn’t fit Plain swfit.

Roseate Tern would be THE dream for us, but shouldn't that have much more black in outer wings? Other then that I agree that the bird looks like it pretty fine, including the all black bill concurrently with dark cap and body shape and tail!
 
Roseate tern and Pallid swifts.

As said, Plain is rare in the Eastern islands of the archipelago. And the «*rotund*» body shape really doesn’t fit Plain swfit.

Plain Swift is regular on Fuerteventura during the xmas period, between 0-6 seen on 6 consecutive annual visits, I scrutinised all birds that I encountered, mostly flying between the Palms at Caleta del Fuste, absolutely no vestige of Pallid seen during this period. However during August last year I observed at least one Pallid amongst “presumed” dark Plain Swifts.
 
Do all the swift photos show the same bird? The top ones (especially top left) look like plain while the bottom ones look like pallid.

Rob
 
Do all the swift photos show the same bird? The top ones (especially top left) look like plain while the bottom ones look like pallid.

Rob

Pretty sure it's the same bird, it was the only Swift of that day I believe, apart from this one we only saw some at Costa Palma, but never took a picture between the palms it's hard.
 
I was hoping someone would mention Roseate Tern , as to me it is not SandwichTern

me too, but I was scared of looking like a plonker! o:)

I'm still not entirely convinced about the swifts though, just because of the seemingly dark faces..though Tib's very much normally right!
 
Sarnies for me - the wings are too long, and the tail too short, for Roseate; also as Opisska has already said, Roseate would have more black in outer wings.
 
So is this eventually gonna go into some hall of fame as the worst birds someone ever put up for ID? :)

I remember the times when I would put up some pictures and got two immediate confident answers, those were so nice! But nowadays I do all such birds by myself and only the carefully selected troublemakers make it here1!
 
So is this eventually gonna go into some hall of fame as the worst birds someone ever put up for ID? :)

I remember the times when I would put up some pictures and got two immediate confident answers, those were so nice! But nowadays I do all such birds by myself and only the carefully selected troublemakers make it here1!

we love troublemakers, I'm a troublemaker myself, most of the time I put myself into trouble 3:)
 
Sarnies for me - the wings are too long, and the tail too short, for Roseate; also as Opisska has already said, Roseate would have more black in outer wings.

Oh, I first thought you wrote "Same for me", then I re-read it and then found out that it might be a word. Google shows that it is something food-related, often used as a name or something and then I finally found out that it is a sandwich, leading to the tern :)
 
Oh, I first thought you wrote "Same for me", then I re-read it and then found out that it might be a word. Google shows that it is something food-related, often used as a name or something and then I finally found out that it is a sandwich, leading to the tern :)

English slang, people should be more aware as a common courtesy, that for many here, English is not their first language!

A
 
I'd like to repeat my previous suggestion that this could be a very early Common Swift, both coloration and shape match this species.

And for Roseate Tern there are dozens of pics on Google that show, that the outer primaries can be almost as pale as the rest of the wing. Compare e.g. here, here and here
Actually I believe it is much rarer to find a Sandwich Tern without contrasting outer primaries

Maffong
 
I'd like to repeat my previous suggestion that this could be a very early Common Swift, both coloration and shape match this species.

And for Roseate Tern there are dozens of pics on Google that show, that the outer primaries can be almost as pale as the rest of the wing. Compare e.g. here, here and here
Actually I believe it is much rarer to find a Sandwich Tern without contrasting outer primaries

Maffong

When selecting photos from the net one should be very careful with choosing them. Your last posted link shows Forster's Tern. I can't open the second link.

EDIT: Managed to open the 2nd link: this shows a badly photoshoped image (as the text explains), with the outer primaries (tips) of the right wing reconstructed in a way that made it unsuitable for ID purposes (the outermost primary was drawn too short and was "whitened"...).
 
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