It is possible that I am posting this a little prematurely but I felt I should get the sighting out as soon as possible. Being completely inexperienced with juvenile Cave Swallow plumages, and never having really studied juvenile Cliff Swallow plumages, I still need to do some research into the identification of the birds I have just seen.
At about 2pm this afternoon as I was leaving the banding station at Tommy Thompson Park, I saw first one and then eventually five swallows foraging into the wind over the main lagoons on the Spit. Two of these birds were Tree Swallows, the remaining three were either very pale plumaged Cliff Swallows or Cave Swallows. The first of the latter three that I saw was so pale and unmarked on the underside that it took me a little while before I could rule out Northern Rough-wing. If Cliff Swallow juveniles are ever this pale and unmarked (e.g. around the throat) then it will be difficult to rule out Cliff Swallow. On the other hand if such unmarked undersides are highly unlikely in Cliff Swallows, then it is surely likely that these birds were indeed Cave Swallows. Unfortunately conditions and distances were not favourable to discerning much else in the way of plumage detailes - the birds gave a distictly capped appearance and there was no sign of any pale on the forehead. Ian Sturdee and I watched these birds for about 15 minutes and then the three Cliff/Caves dissappeared to the west leaving just the two Trees. So, this really is just a heads-up, rather a tentative one at that. If however, anyone out there has any experience with the species that they would like to pass on to me then please feel free to e-mail me. I apologise for not leaving any directions to Leslie Street Spit but I really have to rush out .... when I get the chance to post again I will make amends. Paul Prior _______________________________________________ ONTBIRDS is presented by the Ontario Field Ornithologists - the provincial birding organization. Send bird reports to ONTBIRDS mailing list [email protected] For information about ONTBIRDS visit http://www.ofo.ca/
