Bird, Travel & Art Photos, Birding Sites, Bird Information

Thursday, March 7, 2019

CAVE SWALLOW IN FLIGHT, OCHO RIOS,JAMAICA, 2/27/2019

Even though these photos are out-of-focus due to the bird's small size, distance and fast flying, we can ID this bird as a Cave Swallow as follows:

Small size
Flight pattern of a swallow
Dark, square tail - this differentiates the Cave Swallow from most other swallows. The only other swallow with a range in West Indies that has a similar tail is the Cliff Swallow, which is very rare or a vagrant in Jamaica and generally not in February. The Cave Swallow is present all year in Jamaica
Combination rufous and dark head
Rufous rump
Dark wings with no discernible pattern

To help ID this bird we used the Merlin Photo ID app. For one of the photos it gave a choice of a Cave Swallow and another swallow. We were able to easily eliminate the other swallow. For the other photo it gave a choice of a Cave Swallow and three other birds. We were able to eliminate these three birds.

The Cave Swallow is a new species to our Photographic Life List,which now stands at 845.

We can ID this hummingbird as a female Red-billed Streamertail or Scissor-tailed Hummingbird as follows:

This hummingbird is widespread and common in Jamaica
As much as we can see of the underparts are whitish
Breast and sides of breast are spotted with green
Long, slightly downcurved bill
Dark head
Notched tail.

The Red-billed Streamertail is indigenous to Jamaica. While most authorities consider it a separate species from the Black-billed Streamertail (which only occurs at the Eastern end of Jamaica), some authorities consider it conspecific with the Black-billed Streamertail. The Red-billed Streamertail is the national bird of Jamaica.

The Streamertail gets its name from the spectacular male, which has long black tail streamers. The female has no such streamers.

The Red-billed Streamertail or Scissor-tailed Hummingbird is a new species to our Photographic Life List,which now stands at 844.