BirdForum is the net's largest birding community dedicated to wild birds and birding, and is absolutely FREE!

Register for an account to take part in lively discussions in the forum, post your pictures in the gallery and more.

Reply to thread

Message: <blockquote data-quote="SteveMM" data-source="post: 3241373" data-attributes="member: 130392">Just to create more confusion (or perhaps not), I managed to access the 'Swifts' monograph through Google Preview which yields the following information:Himalayan Swiftlet: 'narrow, greyish rump-band with brown shaft streaks' (so should be visible in good photos); 'uppertail coverts as mantle' (presumably plain, not obviously pale-fringed); 'undertail coverts slightly darker grey, especially the longest, lacking whitish fringes although some show diffusely paler edges' (so overall plain-looking, without neat contrasts).Edible-Nest (Germain's) Swiftlet: 'rump is marginally greyer than the mantle (referring to fuciphaga) ... in the palest examples (germani) the longest uppertail coverts can have slight pale fringing' (so may appear slightly mottled); 'undertail coverts ... clearly blackest (part of underparts) with pale grey fringing' (darker centres should contrast with fringe).As regards habitat: Himalayan is 'mainly a highland species' (unlikely on the coast in summer, but obviously a possibility on passage); Germain's prefers 'small coastal islets and continental lowlands', breeding in sea caves. The following sentence can also be found under the description of Edible-Nest Swiftlet: 'Can occasionally be seen far out to sea (especially germani)'. You can take from that that it will wander!Looking at photos of birds which have occurred on Taiwan, I'm now of the opinion that (i) Himalayan occurs here on passage based on birds with pale/plain vents, brown-streaked rumps, and vaguely 'hooded' looks formed by darker chins. These birds all have good tail forks (of negligible use, though, I think) and I have seen them feeding with House Swifts when they appear to be roughly similarly-sized (of greater use), and (ii) Germain's also occurs, and is probably breeding on islands offshore SE China, an opinion based on strong undertail and uppertail covert pattens (valid?) on birds in photos such as yours (Dave's), time of year they are recorded (and number of individuals), and habitat preference. I could, of course, be wrong on all counts!</blockquote>

Verification