Aurora borealis: <b>Pallid Swift!</b>

July 05, 2005

Pallid Swift!

Aurora header.jpg

Tempting fate in the last blog entry was clearly the way to go about turning up the goods here on the island. Sadly I wasn't the one doing the turning up (that fell as usual to the ever-reliable JL, who was clearly not satisfied with his record so far this year - after all, Gyr Falcons are so last winter, dahlings - and came good for us all once again).

I'd found a Swallow earlier in the day yesterday (whoop-di-doo) and saying that this was cause to feel pleased with myself gives some idea of how crap the year's been so far... So a phone call from JL telling me to get my arse over to the north loch (some 200 yards away from the house) was most unexpected. He'd found a Pallid Swift!

I paused only to see the bird from the kitchen (after all, gotta think of that house list!!) and drove there so as not to waste a moment. Got stunning views as it fed overhead, sometimes with a Common Swift, and occasionally only a few feet from us. Noticeably a chunkier, larger bird than Common, with contrasting primaries darker than the rest of the wings and body. As for the scalloped underside... Phwoar! Throat not as white as Collins would have us believe, just pale on this bird.

What an addition to the house list! Only the second for Shetland (after one on Fair Isle some years ago), and I think the third for Scotland (one previously picked up moribund by MG on North Ron a few years back). Of course, I'd left the camera at work... A crying shame, cos with the bird flying so very close to us in good light, there would have been a good chance of a corking picture. As it was, the few frantic Shetland listers who made it onto the island scored with the bird, and the following picture by PE has made it online:

Pallid Swift

It's a bit silhouetty I'm afraid!

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