Subject: [Tweeters] Swift-like bird-;thoughts?
Date: Sun Feb 16 23:08:18 PST 2020
From: Dee Dee - deedeeknit at yahoo.com

Sunday morning (16th) just after 8am, the sky was an even mix of blue and clouds with morning sun lighting up the yard, the air calm after Saturday's blowing. I was sitting at a north-facing, 2nd story window in my home doing GBBC observations of my yard. I noticed a dark-colored bird a block or two off flying rapidly south towards the house; as it approached, my interest immediately picked up as I better saw the style of its flight. When flapping, there was the appearance that just the outer half/ends of the wings were moving almost in a blur-;extremely rapidly. Not sure what it was, I grabbed my little 8x binoculars and had a good look for the moments before it disappeared over the roof and out of my view. It appeared completely dark in color the entire time; the light was good, morning sun coming in low from the east, and the bird was relatively close/low but also somewhat silhouetted against the sky. At one point it made a bit of a stall maneuver, turned a bit, glided a moment and then resumed flapping and gliding in an arcing turn that took it from a SSE heading to more of SSW. Unfortunately I was not able to get a photo.

Watching it both with and without binoculars, my first impression/thought was "oh-my-gosh it's a Swift!" I had a clear view of it's outline as it flew low almost directly overhead...very narrow, back-curving wings, small head relative to length...it just did not speak to me of anything else in those moments, even though seeing a swift was the last thing I was thinking of that morning. I am always on the lookout for early Spring swallows and knew that juvenile Barn Swallows were recently reported...but that is not what the bird I saw evoked. The narrow wings and flight did not seem right for that. I've seen swifts many times, in Europe mostly, and Vaux once up in Monroe. I grew up in a local rural setting and have seen Barn Swallows all my life, and bats in flight on numerous occasions including in good light. I can unequivocally say this was not a bat. This bird also seemed just a bit larger than a Barn Swallow.

So...having learned that Black Swifts are still supposed to be over 2500 miles south of the Puget Sound area at this time of year, I am at a loss what to think and am wondering if anybody else has had a "near-swift" experience recently, or has any thoughts to share on this situation? Given the wonky status of climate/Mother Nature in general lately, I firmly believe anything is possible, while also realizing there might be a Non-Swift explanation; I am open to input and information.

Dee Warnock
Edmonds
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://mailman11.u.washington.edu/pipermail/tweeters/attachments/20200216/55dfc22d/attachment.html>