Following the 5:00 A.M. passing of the eye of Hurricane Irene over Cape May, New Jersey, more than a few intrepid birders watched the avian action past Sunset Beach by standing in the lee of the storm behind The Grille. Besides seeing Sooty and Bridled terns flying past, ABA’s on-line photo quizmaster, Tony Leukering, spotted, and Tom Johnson photographed, a swift described by Tony as a “big, apparently-all-dark swift with very long wings that were pinched in at the base, an attenuated rear end, and a flaring and notched tail exhibited wingbeats that were quite slow and deep for a swift as it was drifted north away from us by the wind.”
Although photographs of the swift have been sent out for expert opinions, the current thought is that the bird was an ABA Code-4 White-collared Swift (Streptoprocne zonaris), but not an adult (a broad white collar was not visible). Distant photographs of the swift can be viewed here.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/bonxie88/
White-collared Swift is resident from northern Mexico, the Lesser and Greater Antilles, south to South America. All but one ABA record pertains to the Mexican race, S. z. zonaris, but one from Lauderdale Lakes, Florida, 15 September 1994 was a captured bird identified as the West Indian subspecies, S. z. pallidifrons (ABA Checklist, Seventh Edition, Pranty et al.). Semo, L.S., and D. Booher detail all historic ABA-area sightings of White-collared Swift in Birding 34: 16-22 (2002 issue). Weather-related migrations are well established for this locally common species (Handbook of the Birds of the World, Volume 5).
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