Date: 5/13/25 12:33 pm From: Zac Denning via groups.io <zdenning1...> Subject: [EBB-Sightings] Black Swifts over Albany!
On my morning sky watch in front of my house in Albany today (near the
Albany library), I was completely stunned to see 3 Black Swifts fly over at
about 8:12am, heading north. This would be an unusual record, so I’m
uncertain if my description will be sufficient for acceptance. As far as
I’m aware, near the coast, Black Swifts are generally seen from peaks or
coastal promontories, often singly (and not usually over flatter terrain,
flying at lower elevation). And sightings are rare / infrequent. I’ve seen
them before flying above high escarpments in the eastern Sierras, at much
greater distance.
The birds today passed fairly close, with ideal lighting, allowing me to
see the coloration and shape clearly (more below on viewing conditions).
Unfortunately, though I had a camera with me, there wasn’t much time, so I
focused on studying the birds through 10x binoculars while I had the
chance, before the view could be obscured by some small street trees down
the block, or house roofs.
*Please pardon the long description, but hopefully this will help
substantiate the observation:*
I saw 2 birds initially, with the third only emerging into view from behind
houses as they receded to the north, flying away from me as a loose group.
I had perhaps 20-30 seconds of viewing, with 10-15 seconds at close range.
*Plumage:*
They were entirely sooty gray-black without any hint of brown tones, with
some tiny / very subtle pale speckling, most concentrated where the
forehead met the bill, and at the lores, with some extending above the
front of the eye (and perhaps subtly, at the sides of the rear crown, when
they tipped their backs towards me). Most of the throat and upper breast
that I could see appeared as dark as the rest of the body, without the
extensive, diffuse slightly paler throat/upper breast that Vaux’s
show. They lacked the white throat and lengthwise tapering white strip down
the center of the breast that White-throated Swifts have, which would have
been easy to see. The rear flanks and sides of the rump lacked any white
markings.
*Comparing with other species and swallows:*
They were definitely not swallows, with long, thin sickle-shaped wings and
tapering cigar-shaped bodies. They had noticeably protruding tails (unlike
Vaux’s Swifts) that were broad and appeared mostly square shaped, with the
tails closed (versus the pointy tapered shape of White-throated Swift tails
when tightly closed). The wings, though far too long and thin for
swallows, were
noticeably broader right at the wing base compared to Vaux’s or
White-throated Swifts. The wings were also proportionately longer than
Vaux’s Swift.
I have often seen Violet-green and other Swallows from the house (and of
course out birding), which have much shorter, blunter wings, and deeper,
more flappy wingbeats.
*Wingbeats and flight observations:*
Notably, these birds had fairly languid wingbeats compared to other swifts,
with maybe 2-4 wingbeats, then a glide. Vaux’s Swifts have shallow,
fluttery wingbeats, that are far more rapid and almost insect-like. It was
possible to follow each quick wingbeat, versus Vaux’s Swift flaps that are
so rapid they almost blur.
They flew largely in one direction, but veered slightly every few seconds,
often rolling partially to one side, then the other, and making subtle jags
in their mostly forward flight paths, between brief flaps. Their flight
looked intentional and goal oriented, but they also never looking rushed. While
I know size estimates are unreliable on flying birds, they looked
substantial for a swift, both in size and build.
*Flight path / viewing angle and lighting:*
Their flight path passed maybe 40 feet in front of me, as I faced west, at
roughly 100 ft elevation (using two nearby 65-70 ft redwood trees as height
reference), heading north, roughly following the direction of my
north-south street. I saw them looking up at an angle in front (not
silhouetted as they might have been if seen directly overhead), and in very
good light.
There was diffuse early morning sunlight coming from directly behind me,
shining through some lingering haze/partial cloud cover over the Berkeley
hills. This meant the birds were fully lit, but without harsh shadows.
This was the most notable sighting I’ve had skywatching from the
house (among the 300+ complete eBird lists I’ve entered since March, 2020).
I’m not sure if this is enough for the record to be accepted (I defer
completely to the reviewers’ judgement on that), but I encourage everyone
to keep an eye out in the spring sky!
