Fork-tailed swifts

We saw our first Fork-tailed swifts for the year yesterday, over the farm behind us here at Wongaling Beach (FNQ), about 12 mixed in with 12 Australian swiftlets. Then we went down to Tully Heads sandspit at the mouth of the Hull River to see what the big spring tides had done and saw about 500 fork-tails, at least. Just an estimate based on their constant loose stream going south along the coast, some flying high and some close to the river; we counted 100 going south in one minute, then concentrated on the shorebirds (a fisherman kept putting up the terns and sharp-tailed sandpipers, sandpipers left after two flights); swifts stopped coming after about 15 mins. We saw a few extra fork-tails go over as we drove out but did not stop to count. At Hull Heads we had 8 Fork-tails go low over our heads as we were standing on the sandspit (other arm of the Hull River mouth). No swifts of any kind this morning, more howling wind all rushing to join the low off Karumba I suppose.  Helen <')//////==< _______________________________________________ Birding-Aus mailing list Birding-Aus@birding-aus.org To change settings or unsubscribe visit: http://birding-aus.org/mailman/listinfo/birding-aus_birding-aus.org