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Swallow ID query (1 Viewer)

K B Srinivas

Well-known member
Hello All,
Saw these swallows in Cochise Lake, Willcox, Arizona in May, 2021. Is the one marked in red a Bank swallow and the other 2 rough winged Swallows? Sorry for poor quality photo.

DSC_0413.jpg

Thanks,
Srinivas.
 
The middle bird has a white throat and a sharp border between it and the face, so it cannot be a Northern Rough-winged Swallow.
 
The middle bird has a white throat and a sharp border between it and the face, so it cannot be a Northern Rough-winged Swallow.
Might it be juv tree swallow?

Taking into account "close to, far away"/"the size of... notoriously difficult to judge", it still looks slightly larger than the others. Sand Martin/bank swallow is smaller and should have a neater and more extensive throat patch than this
 
The odd one out is a Tree Swallow, nice clean white underparts, sharp contrast between dark cap/white throat and larger than the adjacent N. Rough-wingeds. I believe the apparent dark on the chest is an artefact of perhaps wind blowing the feathers slightly, exposing the dark feather bases.
 
The odd one out is a Tree Swallow, nice clean white underparts, sharp contrast between dark cap/white throat and larger than the adjacent N. Rough-wingeds. I believe the apparent dark on the chest is an artefact of perhaps wind blowing the feathers slightly, exposing the dark feather bases.
If so, must be female as there's absolutely no hint of green or blue.

Not 1000% sure I go with the wind/dark feather bases explanation (works for some but not all of what I can see). But hey, guess we've agreed the species now
 
The odd one out is a Tree Swallow, nice clean white underparts
So... what about the date and age/sex? Are there juveniles about in the first half of May? This doesn't look like my understanding of an adult female, as I certainly don't believe that one can tell from this photo that the underparts are 'nice clean white'.
 
I have this one more image which again is not of very good quality. This is of another bird which was near the first one but it was present with a bunch cave swallows.

DSC_0415.jpg

Thanks,
Srinivas.
 
So... what about the date and age/sex? Are there juveniles about in the first half of May? This doesn't look like my understanding of an adult female, as I certainly don't believe that one can tell from this photo that the underparts are 'nice clean white'.
Butty, some Tree Swallows in spring/summer (well before that year's juveniles fledge) can be very "dull", almost brown above. For several years now, I've had a pair come to my box, and then a third bird appears that is very brown above.
 
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