swifts in Gran Canaria (1 Viewer)

[Earnest lad]

Saw a flock of swifts in Gran Canaria in December.
The birds must have been either Plain Swifts or Common Swifts I suppose, because they were dark. Still I didnt get close up view

Is there anyone with knowledge of swifts in the Canaries. I would like to know know what the status of Common Swift is in the Canaries in December.

Is common swift at that time (a) likely (b) unlikely or (c) almost impossible.

Any help in this would be much appreciated thanks.

 

[Nutcracker]

In December, (c) almost impossible.

If you'd been there in spring or autumn with passage in progress, it'd have probably been (b) unlikely

 

[KenM]

Saw a flock of swifts in Gran Canaria in December.
The birds must have been either Plain Swifts or Common Swifts I suppose, because they were dark. Still I didnt get close up view

Is there anyone with knowledge of swifts in the Canaries. I would like to know know what the status of Common Swift is in the Canaries in December.

Is common swift at that time (a) likely (b) unlikely or (c) almost impossible.

Any help in this would be much appreciated thanks.

I have visited Fuerteventura in December many times, and have encountered small numbers of Plain Swift on each occasion between 2 and 4 being the average.

Cheers

 

[Earnest lad]

Dear Nutcracker and Ken
Thanks for your comments.
I think, based on these comments (particularly Nutcracker's) that the flocks of swifts I saw must definitely have been plain swifts.
Even though I could see these dark swifts and didnt get a good enough view to see close-up features (such as whether there were pale throats or not) I think it must be a safe assumption that these were plain swifts indeed apus unicolor
Based on this reasoning, am I allowed to call the plain swift a "tick" please?

 

[Simon Wates]

Based on your photos in an earlier post alone I'd tick 'em! Structurally they aren't Common or Pallid, (too slim, too long tailed with a deeper fork as well as the dark throats...) which I personally believe is a better criteria than counting birds based on probability of occurrence. Saying that though, Common Swift in December would be remarkable...we've had the odd one down here in the Algarve over the years.

I've just checked and found that in Portugal there are 5 Dec records and 8 January records - mainly singles though a couple involving 2 birds and one with 5 birds.

 

[Earnest lad]

swifts in gran canaria

Thanks Simon for your kind contribution and shared experience.
Although those photo's weren't mine (sorry) I see the validity of your point. The chance of an individual bird perhaps in December could happen but a flock I guess eliminates even the slim likelihood at that time of year, of these being a flock of common swifts , and of course, as they say, "birds of a feather flock together" so I guess these must definitely be flocks of plain swifts.