This will be my last post, relating to the holiday, but it's one I had been thinking about since I first spotted the genuine, although very subtle, differences in flight mannerisms between Common and Pallid Swifts. Quite how useful this could be when confronted by a lone swift sp. on some windswept headland in late autumn in the UK, I'm not too sure? Around the Pefkohori area I would estimate that Common Swifts outnumbered Pallids by 20 - 1. What I noted, once I'd got my eye in, was that the Common Swifts were far more rapid in their flight and the wing beats were rather flickered and stiff. By comparison the Pallids seemed to be far more leisurely and fluid in their flight. The Pallids I watched never ganged up in big, noisy, mobs whilst the Commons were perfectly happy to congregate in screaming hoards around their nest sites. Once I'd established this difference in flight patterns it became quite easy to pick out the odd Pallid from a group of Commons, without having to go through the plumage and structural nuances of the two species. I don't imagine, for a second, that this would hold much sway with a county recorder in the UK, but it's of no concern to me anyway. In Greece, with both species side by side, the difference in flight patterns is quite obvious.
As I lugged the camera kit with me on every outing into the Pefkohori countryside, I thought it might be a fitting end to the saga that I post some more of the images captured whilst on my wanderings. They won't win any awards, yet serve as a wonderful reminder that birds have no concept of man-made borders and are just as remarkable when seen on holiday as they would be if spotted in the UK.
 |
| Cirl Bunting - I've still not seen one in the UK. Do I care? |
 |
| Levant Sparrowhawk |
 |
| Tawny Pipit |
So that's yer lot - until the next time!
No comments:
Post a Comment