zbird Posted July 2 Share Posted July 2 Saw these birds flying around Anchorage AK yesterday. Could the second one be a cliff swallow? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Birding Boy Posted July 2 Share Posted July 2 I think these are Violet-green Swallows 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Seanbirds Posted July 2 Share Posted July 2 12 minutes ago, Birding Boy said: I think these are Violet-green Swallows Agreed. No swifts. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tony Leukering Posted July 2 Share Posted July 2 (edited) The primaries of swifts account for MUCH more of the wing length relative to the secondaries than on swallows; as far as I know, on all species of swifts vs. all species of swallows. This provides an excellent feature for distinguishing the two groups. Note the proportions on your bird relative to those on a Vaux's Swift in pix below. Even more excellent is that the two groups have VERY different flight styles and flap cadences. Learn those! Edited July 2 by Tony Leukering fix mistake 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Quiscalus quiscula Posted July 2 Share Posted July 2 Yep, violet-green swallows. Also note the white sides of rump in the second photo, which identify it as violet-green swallow. 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zbird Posted July 3 Author Share Posted July 3 Ah, that's really helpful! Thanks! 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
floraphile Posted July 3 Share Posted July 3 16 hours ago, Tony Leukering said: The primaries of swifts account for MUCH more of the wing length relative to the secondaries than on swallows; as far as I know, on all species of swifts vs. all species of swallows. This provides an excellent feature for distinguishing the two groups. Note the proportions on your bird relative to those on a Vaux's Swift in pix below. Even more excellent is that the two groups have VERY different flight styles and flap cadences. Learn those! Yes @Tony Leukering! This is very helpful!!! I, for one, appreciate spoonfeeding. 👏 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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