I apologize if this was already discussed on social media and whatnot, but for those who did not already know about this Vaux’s Swift report from earlier today, check out the description from the eBird checklist below:
Vaux's Swift (Chaetura vauxi) (1) - Reported Sep 12, 2018 11:30 by Roger Jay Schroeder - Memorial Park (Granite Falls), Yellow Medicine, Minnesota - Map: http://maps.google.com/?ie=UTF8&t=p&z=13&q=44.8011289,-95.5408323&ll=44.8011289,-95.5408323 - Checklist: https://ebird.org/view/checklist/S48468562 - Comments: "Notes taken in the field and retyped in advance of doing further research. Migrating flock of chimney swifts observed late morning over memorial park in Granite Falls. I had an unobstructed vantage point at a vista in the South end of the park overlooking a wetland. I observed a group of about 25 individuals for five or so minutes before they were out of sight. One individual bird instantly stood out among the group as it was noticeably smaller in size / maybe 15-20% smaller than all other swifts in the flock. Keying in on this individual, the wing size, shape and angle to the body further caught my attention. This was clearly a swift species as it had the same “flying cigar” body shape, and alternating flight pattern including rapid banking, and moderate to shallow twitchy wing beats interspersed with gliding and more banking. All birds in this group behaved in this matter. The wings were not as long as in chimney swift; not extending out as far from the body. The angle also seemed to be more perpendicular to the body (close to a 90° angle from the body), whereas in chimney swift I would describe the wings as angling backward; perhaps at an 80° angle of the trailing edge of the wing. The leading edge of the wings of this individual also seemed to not angle back as far as chimney swift and had a slight rounding to the wing tips rather than a sharp angle at the wing tips. In addition to the body size being smaller, the tail of this individual did not extend beyond the trailing edge of the wing as far as was observed in the chimney swifts directly available for comparison; giving this bird a stubbier tail appearance. This group of swifts were very active; banking and chattering, however in the clear sky lighting conditions I did not discern for certain a difference in color variation on the throat, rump, or underside of wings between this individual and any of the chimney swifts. I was also not close enough to make out any facial markings nor could I note any differences in bill size. Regarding voice (there was a lot of chatter going on) I did hear a different sound among the group; though I could in no way determine which bird it was coming from. In my mind at the site during the observation I was thinking the phrase trip-trip; uttered very quickly. There was a sound I was hearing that seemed "different" than the random, incessant quality of the chatter of chimney swift. The group was moving generally south east over the Minnesota River Valley and was observed for about five minutes, or so. I specifically evaluated this individual to see if it were perhaps a swallow. It was not. It was definitely a swift species. There were no other species types in the group. I realize this is a remarkable and unusual report, and appreciate your review." Good birding, Alyssa DeRubeis Fayetteville, Arkansas ---- Join or Leave mou-net: http://lists.umn.edu/cgi-bin/wa?SUBED1=mou-net Archives: http://lists.umn.edu/archives/mou-net.html
