Swift for ID - Matsu Islands, Taiwan (1 Viewer)

[Dave 2x]

Some of you may have already seen the interesting points Steve raised on this Taiwan thread regarding the Swift ID.

http://www.birdforum.net/showthread.php?p=3242297#post3242297

Himalayan Swiftlet is the only one on the official Taiwan checklist that seems to fit, however new birds are added to the official Taiwan list annually and I would appreciate any opinion on other possibilities.

On the 25 June 2015, we witnessed between 30 and 40 of these Swiftlets mixed in with a few Barn Swallows hawking a playing field on Xiju Island, Matsu Islands, Taiwan. The location that we saw these swifts was only a few metres above sea level.

All comments appreciated!

Cheers

Dave

 

[johnallcock]

Just bumping this back up the page in the hope that there may be a swiftlet expert out there who can comment.

I'm afraid that I have nothing useful to add about ID. Himalayan is considered the default swiftlet in Hong Kong, but I have wondered about the possibility of other species occurring.

 

[Dong Bei]

Hi Dave, for what it's worth, there have been Himilayan Swiftlets moving north along the coast of China. See MC's posts about them on the China forum here: http://www.birdforum.net/showthread.php?t=155285&page=39

 

[SteveMM]

Hi Dave, for what it's worth, there have been Himilayan Swiftlets moving north along the coast of China. See MC's posts about them on the China forum here: http://www.birdforum.net/showthread.php?t=155285&page=39

I take it from these posts that the contributor MC has observed swiftlets of some kind in Shanghai, that these are present on offshore islands and along the coastal plain, and that they are hanging around rather than moving. Interesting also to note that MC states that 'some looked paler rumped' and are believed by the observer to be Germain's.

This whole pattern of records seems like a better fit for something which has spread north along the SE coast of China rather than for something which has been dispersed from inland breeding sites by inclement weather. I don't know about the weather on the mainland, but the whole of June here seemed to be characterised by persistent 'dry' (leastways 'rainless') south-westerlies originating from way down in SE Asia somewhere (i.e. from within the range of Germain's Swiftlet).

Just how useful is a white rump band in separating these two (Himalayan/Germain's)?