[EBB Sightings] about White-throated Swifts

Dear Birders:

This posting is partly in response to Lisa Owens Viana's observations
and questions about the birds "chittering and playing" above the
Berkeley City Club and a chance to wax ecstatic about what is probably
my favorite bird -- the White-throated Swift.

She recognizes their body shape which some bird guides refer to as
"cigar-shaped."  And she is right that they take "longer swoops" than
swallows.  When not gliding -- or rather hurtling through space --,
they often intersperse these swopes and glides with several rapid wing
beats. Swift's wings are also longer and narrower compared to their
body length than swallows and the bend in the wings is closer to the
body.

As for the white throat, who can really tell where the black and white
begins with birds flying and twisting and turning at that velocity? My
best view of the swifts was from a vantage point high on a grassy slope
in the Berkeley Hills where, early in the evening, a group of swifts
flew below me and I could clearly see the white patches on their rumps.


Though a few birds seem to be around all year, it's now that we are
aware of their increasing numbers.  Maybe this year, some may again
build their nests under the eaves of the tile roof of the building
across from the Central Library.  By watching carefully, you might be
lucky enough to see an adult enter or leave the nest in a flight so
rapid that it's possible to believe that they are, indeed, more closely
related to hummingbirds than to the swallow family.

And what heart can't be lifted by that joyful twittering and the sight
of a group of White-throated Swifts who own the sky wherever they
choose to fly!

Phila Rogers



pointravelling at that



 
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