Cave Swallow in Newfoundland - UK next?

[Brian S]

There are photos by Bruce MacTavish of the first Cave Swallow in Newfoundland, plus others from New Brunswick on the North American Stop Press page. It appears that there has been an influx to the NE with at least 12 seen in New Brunswick.

Europe next?

Brian S

[MichaelF]

Not totally impossible - looking at the synoptic charts for the next few days*, there's a good run of westerlies from Nfld to N Scotland on Monday. But before that, there's a big high sat right on top of Nfld, so it may reorient and poke off south today before the westerlies get going.

* http://www.findafishingboat.com/free_weather_charts.php

[AndyB]

I'd agree, this species consistently occurs as a vagrant in the north-eastern US each Nov. Sometimes, it carries a few other southern hirundines with it eg Brown-chested Martin at Cape May.

[Brian S]

Cave vs Cliff Swallow
Just to aid those that might be out there searching for that Cave Swallow, below is a list of features to look for, plus some links to photos of the two species.

Cave Swallow has a number of different populations, so I will stick to that which is likely to appear in UK, ie that which occurs in Texas and New Mexico pallida (the differences between this and other populations is relatively slight and largely revolves around the extent and strength of rufous). Cliff Swallow also has various subspecies, but the most widespread and northerly is pyrrhonata. The area you will need to concentrate on most is the head.

Cave Swallow is slighty smaller (but this is unlikely to help much with a lone vagrant), the paler rufous or orange throat and cheeks, extending onto the hindneck as a collar, contrast with the dark cap and ‘mask’ – on young birds the orange colour can be a dirty cream or buff; the forehead is also rufous and more extensive than Cliff.
http://www.schmoker.org/BirdPics/Photos/Swallows/CASW2.jpg (http://www.schmoker.org/BirdPics/Photos/Swallows/CASW2.jpg)
http://www.pbase.com/ngannet/cave_swallow (http://www.pbase.com/ngannet/cave_swallow)

Cliff Swallow has the ear coverts often deep chestnut (adults) or dark brown (flecked) on young birds, and the throat is also darker (though sometimes a little paler), thereby contrasting less with the dark crown, forming a ‘hooded’ effect. The hindneck is greyer and on adults the forehead patch is white, whilst on first-autumn birds it is pale off-white or creamy.
http://www.schmoker.org/BirdPics/CLSW.html
http://www.bobsteelephoto.com/Species/clsw.html (http://www.bobsteelephoto.com/Species/clsw.html)
http://www.pbase.com/gtepke/cliff_swallow - great shots of an adult in flight
http://www.pbase.com/dancinec/cliff_swallow - a young bird

Possible hybrid CavexCliff http://www.pbase.com/sloughbirder/cavelike_swallow (http://www.pbase.com/sloughbirder/cavelike_swallow)

Cave Swallows often appear in NE America in mid November as they vacate the breeding areas late, so this is the prime time for possible vagrants in Europe.

A good article by Julian Hough, ‘Identification of Cliff Swallow and Cave Swallow’, is in Birding World 13: 368-374.

Brian S

[Alex Lees]

Europe next?

Brian S

Sure, its not impossible. However, consider the rarity of other Nearctic swallows in the WP - of which millions are moving south and offshore into the 'danger zone' every autumn, a huge pool of individuals 'available' for vagrancy (should they become entrained into fast-moving westerly wave-depressions). Consider then what are the chances of any one of only a small number of (few hundred?) misorientated Cave Swallows available for vagrancy (probably in poor condition) of making it across the Atlantic. Don't want to unduly dampen dampen expectations however; after an excellent season for Nearctic vagrants there should be many 'secret winterers' out there..... Moreover, I'd fancy Brown-chested Martin or the domestica race of Grey-breasted Martin on Cape Verde.....

Alex

[Brian S]

Hi Alex.

I know you are right, but do you think Cave Swallow is less likely than Varied Thrush? I don't know the status of VT on the eastern seaboard.

Brian S

[Alex Lees]

Hi Alex.

I know you are right, but do you think Cave Swallow is less likely than Varied Thrush? I don't know the status of VT on the eastern seaboard.

Brian S

Hi Brian

VT is an irruptive vagrant to the US eastern seaboard and is detected surprisingly regularly considering its normally cryptic habits (Keith 1968 (http://elibrary.unm.edu/sora/JFO/v039n04/p0245-p0276.pdf), Wells et al. 1996 (http://md1.csa.com/partners/viewrecord.php?requester=gs&collection=ENV&recid=3986736&q=varied+thrush+vagrant&uid=793357842&setcookie=yes)). Cave Swallow on the other hand should be far less under-recorded, as late season hirundines in the NE are always going to attract attention and are considerably easier to find than an über-skulking pseudo-Zoothera. We've recently treated Varied Thrush in a forthcoming tome (http://www.rarebirdbooks.co.uk/mall/productpage.cfm/rarebirdbooks/_DGRRV1/195920/The%20Definitive%20Guide%20to%20RARE%20BIRDS%20in% 20Britain%20and%20Ireland)(so I don't want to give away too many spoilers....) but I'd certainly rate this species as a more likely vagrant as it ought to be better able to survive an extended stay on a boat.......

cheers

Alex

(that secret winterer prophecy didn't take long to to be realised!)

[Johnny X]

We've recently treated Varied Thrush in a forthcoming tome (http://www.rarebirdbooks.co.uk/mall/productpage.cfm/rarebirdbooks/_DGRRV1/195920/The%20Definitive%20Guide%20to%20RARE%20BIRDS%20in% 20Britain%20and%20Ireland)(so I don't want to give away too many spoilers....)

'Why is Black-billed Cuckoo rarer than Black-billed Cuckoo?'

Hmmm! Sounds a bit surreal this buke.

[forktail]

'Why is Black-billed Cuckoo rarer than Black-billed Cuckoo?'

Hmmm! Sounds a bit surreal this buke.

Johnny X (wasn't he the drummer in Kenickie?)

I don't think the site has been proofed judging by the spellings of the author's name, the book sample obviously hasn't yet and these minor glitches should be ironed out in due course.

Looks interesting, I expect the topics on vagrancy theory to be particularly stimulating and worth purchasing for alone (any chance of a freebie Alex...?:beer:)

F.

[Russell Slack]

I don't think the site has been proofed judging by the spellings of the author's name, the book sample obviously hasn't yet and these minor glitches should be ironed out in due course.

Looks interesting, I expect the topics on vagrancy theory to be particularly stimulating and worth purchasing for alone (any chance of a freebie Alex...?:beer:)
F.

Hi

Thanks to Alex for the unprompted plug for the book, a tad premature just yet but thanks all the same.

As has been noted the website is still ‘in prep’ at present, so apologies for typos etc as I wasn’t quite ready to launch it just yet but this is a good incentive to get it redrafted & updated!! These will be revised in due course and launched accordingly.

The book is privately published and should be ready for publication in January 2009 - slightly behind schedule but the autumn meant there was quite a bit of redrafting to be done! It will be hardback with a great colour dustjacket by Ray Scally and internal b&w vignettes by Julian Hough and Ray Scally, plus historical perspectives by Ian Wallace.

Most of you will have noted the facts on the website, but volume 1 covers from sandgrouse to New World orioles and will come in at around 400 pages. The vagrancy chapter by Alex Lees and James Gilroy is an excellent read and there is also a chapter by Adam Rowlands (Chairman of BBRC). The rest of the book is taken up with species accounts of varying length - see the drafts of Mourning Dove:

http://www.rarebirdbooks.co.uk/mall/rarebirdbooks/downloads/Mourning.pdf

and Yellow-billed Cuckoo:

http://www.rarebirdbooks.co.uk/mall/rarebirdbooks/downloads/YBCU.pdf

Many species accounts have finders accounts in amongst the ‘analysis’ and there is a backdrop of Western Palearctic/European status plus a general discussion of records.

Hopefully people will find it an interesting read!

Best wishes
Russell Slack

[Johnny X]

so apologies for typos etc

No need for apologies it just amused my feeble little mind. Looks like a cracking book - good luck with it.

Johnny X (wasn't he the drummer in Kenickie?)

Aye I think he was. The most famous Johnny X was the invisible striker who played for Fulchester United tho...

[AndyB]

Jonathan Wasse pointed out the following on surfbirdsnews email group;

Following on from the below, phenomenal numbers are appearing in Cape May, New Jersey (which usually get up to a handful in November). Counts of up to 200 are being reported on the JerseyBirds mailing list http://www.surfbirds.com/birdingmail/Group/Jersey_Birds

Cheers,
Jonathan

www.geocities.com/jwasse1973