Dear All A very very Merry Christmas to the whole list from me!!! A huge pure flock of 1000+ Fork-tailed Swifts has been swarming over my place in Smithfield, in Cairns northern beaches, all morning today. This arrival is bang on-cue, as this species normally arrives here on the Cairns coastal plain in numbers usually a week either side of Xmas. Last season they were almost a month early, but this year’s arrival date is more typical. A very small flock of birds were seen last night at dusk by another observer in the Cairns southern suburbs, so it seems that the big numbers have streamed into our vicinity over night, on Santa’s sled trail!! Many birds are in various stages of tail moult, which could cause some potential confusion, if one is not careful, with mis-ID’d House Swifts. I have put a report just now onto Birdline Nth Qld, with a pic of mine showing how these moulting “short-tailed” fork-taileds can look. This report may not be published for a little while yet today, depending on how busy the moderators are up here, but please do look out for it, as it shows how misleading these birds can appear at times, and may be of some use to others. Have a great day everyone!!!! BIG BIG Xmas Cheers from Martin Cachard,Cairns, 0428 782 808 ===============================
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