Gone Swiftin'

After a very frustrating morning when our friend Nige kept ringing me to tell me how many Swifts were flying low over the dam at the res, I finally managed to get Kev to take my place until I could meet him about 3 pm.
There certainly were lots of birds flying very low to the ground to feed on insects which the breeze and cool conditions had forced low down. A static net proved no good because the wind was blowing and the birds could easily see and avoid it. So flick netting it was. This is where the net is upright at one end and tied to some posts--while the catcher holds the net on another pole low to the ground until it's moved quickly upright to intercept a bird. It's a technique that we have safely used for many years--but there are only a few days each year when conditions are right--and this was one! We ended the session with 69 new Swifts and 3 House Martins--great effort Kev, Steve and Jen.

 

 

 

A successful catch! The bird is just about to be extracted quickly from the net.

 

 

 

These two pictures are of the same bird--the top one gives an idea of the remarkable claws of these birds. All four toes point forward ti help them grab onto ledges and pull themselves up into holes, and this is helped by tremendously strong muscles and needle-sharp claws. The result is lots of ringer's blood as the Swifts get their own back...….

The lower picture shows the very large eye--great for seeing prey and obstacles when flying at great speed. Although the bill is short the mouth ( or gape)is very large--you can just see the ridge passing back as far as the eye--very useful to trawl insects from the sky. They are a brilliantly adapted bird.

Common Swifts are a uniform chocolate brown all over except a small patch of white on the chin and upper throat as you can see in these pics. Other species of Swift from around the world have varying amounts of white on the belly, back or rump--so whenever we glimpse some white on a Swift hearts are set pumping. Unfortunately in this case it was simply a bit of partial albinism--we've called it the world's first Belvide White-Naped Swift--but I don't think it will be accepted as a new species somehow! Interesting bird though.

This morning it was back to the res at 05.00 for our regular Saturday morning session. We had a steady catch of 53 new birds with Reed Warbler the most numerous at 14. In addition we caught 21 birds previously ringed by us providing a good measure of the success of breeding at the reserve.
More news after our Wednesday session-weather permitting