Fork-tailed Swifts in Blaxland, NSW

Hi. From 10.20 am until 12.30 pm yesterday (10 Feb) there were at least 200 Fork-tailed Swifts hawking over the ridge where the Great Western Highway runs through Blaxland. I went back to the same spot at the corner of the highway and Bridge Rd twice, hoping to see other species of swift in the large loose flock, but no luck – no Little Swift or even any White-throated Needletails. At my house only 500 metres to the north I saw absolutely no swifts, they appeared to be concentrated along a stretch of highway where the uplift of wind from Fitzgerald Creek was bringing up insects. There were also quite a lot of welcome Swallows at lower elevations as well. Conditions were almost calm, sunny and humid, lots of rain the night before.

I saw only 2 White-throated Needletails on a recent work field trip (seed collecting), on Monday Feb 4th at Brunswick Heads, 2 single birds about 5 minutes apart. Usually when I stay there during the summer there are good numbers of Needletails, last week was very cool, after the passing of the rain from cyclone Oswald.

The other interesting observation I made on that trip was around Delungra and Gravesend, west of Inverell, where I saw at least 4 pairs of rosellas that appeared to be intergrades between Eastern and Pale-headed Rosellas. They mostly appeared to be very bright sulphur yellow on the back, with a fairly bright orange yellow head, with varying amounts of bright red on the crown. I have seen one pair of what I assumed to be this intergrade many years ago near Cunningham’s Gap in Qld, that pair both had very bright golden orange heads, with no scarlet.

Cheers, Richard.

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2 comments to Fork-tailed Swifts in Blaxland, NSW

  • Laurie Knight

    G’day John

    I’ve seen Pale Headed – Eastern Rosellas at a few spots along the line of control (which seems to follow the Scenic Rim in SEQ), so they aren’t extremely rare. I’ve also seen mixed flocks, which is of course, the precursor to the hybrids.

    Regards, Laurie.

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  • John Tongue

    Interesting report on the intergrade Rosellas, Richard.

    We lived for a number of years in both Boggabilla and Tenterfield, NSW, where both Pale-headed and Eastern Rosellas occur. We never found any ‘intergrade’ birds, though it’s interesting to read of these reports.

    Cheers, John Tongue Ulverstone, Tas.

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