Was looking out of the front window this morning and spotted an odd-looking swift. Grabbed the bins and saw it had a white rump!
After further views, I summised the following breif description for the rba:
"Bird showed neat white rump and large white throat patch and slightly more brown colouration. However, the white on the rump did slightly extend around the side of the bird and the jizz was not particularly striking."
I knew that this bird didn't perfectly fit the description for any rare species, and was aware that it could be an aberrant common swift but I've never seen pictures of common swift with such a perfectly-formed rump patch.
I had to go to Norwich this morning so I wasn't able to watch the bird for long. I have no prior experience of any of the rare swift species and have no birding contacts in Nofolk, but I didn't want to dismiss a potential mega. With time running out, l decided to report it as a possible Pacific Swift and let others get a look at it.
Well, before too long news came out that it was indeed a common swift. I must say that I was shocked at just how much white it had on the back (though I believe motion blur has exaggerated this in some shots) as I completely missed this in the field. Looking back at the record shots I took, the only shot I got of the top of the bird had the white back markings hidden behind the dark wing, with only a small amount of white visable on the nape.
Well, if nothing else this bird has certainly been an education! I've seen pictures of aberrant swifts before but had no idea that common swift could show such perfectly-defined markings like this bird's rump. Certainly a lesson to be far more cautious with swift ID in the future.
Lastly, I must thank everyone who took interest in this bird and those who clinched the ID as Common.
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