Pallid Swift? Tenerife, July 2022 (1 Viewer)

[Shumi]

Hi All, pls kindly advise - is that a Pallid Swift? Seen at Barranco de Ruiz on Tenerife, where normally only Plain and Pallid Swifts are present in summer - and this one certainly looked different from Plain Swifts (bigger, longer winged and the flight pattern 'more predictable", not erratic as with plains swifts).

Common swifts would not be very common there, but could potentially be present. I have had no field experience with Pallid Swists before, but to me the bird(s) on the pictures appear to be more sandy colored than black, black mark near the eye appears to be visible and some pictures appear to show the "broad" white chin.

I saw a couple of birds there that looked like Pallids, so cannot 100% guarantee that it is the same bird on all five pictures, but quite possibly it is.

Many thanks

 

[mummymonkey]

Maybe a crop full of insects is making the throat look lighter?

 

[Shumi]

Maybe a crop full of insects is making the throat look lighter?

Thank you. Do I understand correctly that you would lean towards Plain Swift in this case?

 

[Prestdj]

all pallids for me

 

[mummymonkey]

Thank you. Do I understand correctly that you would lean towards Plain Swift in this case?

I have very little experience of plain swift but it does look rather attenuated at the rear for pallid. It also seems to be quite long-winged. I wouldn't like to appear certain though, as I'm not.

 

[Brian J Small]

All Plain Swifts to me

Plain Swift - Apus unicolor - Media Search - Macaulay Library and eBird

Explore millions of photos, audio recordings, and videos of birds and other animals; powered by Macaulay Library and eBird. The Macaulay Library collects, archives, and distributes wildlife media for research, education, and conservation.

media.ebird.org

 

[Shumi]

Dear All, I have addressed this question to Eduardo Garcia del Rey, an expert ornithologist from Sociedad Ornitológica Canaria (I managed to obtain his contact details from Robert Burton, a birder permanently based on La Palma who runs a blog on La Palma birds). I will publish his opinion here once i get the reply from Eduardo.

 

[KenM]

Overall, lack of a contrasting dark mask coupled to a restricted pale throat and without any “real” contrast, doesn’t to my eye scream A.pallidus?

Cheers

 

[Rotherbirder]

I have no experience of Plain Swift but like (most) others, I'm not seeing Pallid here.

RB

 

[Shumi]

Yep, Plain Swift, Eduardo has confirmed as well. Thanks so much to all for your opinions!