This is a bit difficult, but I sometimes see a flock of birds fly up our valley near Bathurst at high speed. There is no time to see any detail, first I hear the flock, then it zooms by, there may be 2 or 3 flocks of 30-50 birds, flying about 10m above the ground. The birds are dark coloured, about the size of starlings or a bit smaller.
It may be that they are starlings,except I don't usually see starlings within 5k of my place, these birds don't roost or wheel in the air, just very direct and fast. I see a lot of starlings in Bathurst but have never seen them flying like these birds.
Any ideas what these birds might be would be welcome.
I saw this flock again today, they really fly very fast. Its a great mystery to me, I don't think in our area they could be starlings. We do have a flock of little woodswallows in the area, but I don't think it could be them. I realise this is an impossible id request, I guess some things remain mysteries.
G'day Greg,
Can you add some more details like body shape, wing shape, bill shape etc and any colouring you've seen? A few extra details would help a lot in giving you the right ID.
Hi gelmir, these birds fly fast,no details except approx the size of starlings. I just wondered if anyone knew of an alternative bird that flys in fast, low flocks.
Swallows?
Good guess Myky, I have seen a group of swallows flying low around, just check if they have forked tails, if they do its probably a swallow (or maybe a martin?).
We do have welcome swallows and fairy martins around. I don't think this is them, the birds are a bit bigger and the flight is more direct, less swooping than swallows. Thanks for the suggestions though.
How would you describe their call? I dont know that area so it's hard to say what bird it may be. Birds that come to mind that are known to get around in flocks of that size are Apostlebirds, White-winged Choughs, Common Mynahs.
Of those the Apostle bird do sometimes form groups of up to 50 birds and they do make quite a bit of noise. The first time I saw some I heard them long before I saw them. They may be your best bet, but without more info then it's nearly impossible to be sure.
The above image is of an Apostlebird, but they do look a tad darker in RL.
I've never seen an apostle bird, though I would like to. In this case their flight is much too slow. I think the birds I see must be either little woodswallows or starlings.
Hi :)
i'm not saying they are swallows but when i was looking up swallows to see if they were in your area i read this
"Welcome Swallows - Immature: duller, tail shorter. Singles, pairs, large autumn-winter companies: mixes with Tree, Fairy Martins and with Barn and other swallows in N aust. Flight swift, slipping, low and high, wing linings grey"
I suppose it could be swallows, they certainly fly fast enough. Their flight when travelling point to point may be different to their usual swooping flight. We have a pair that nests on our verandah and several pairs nest under an old bridge nearby.
Next time I see the flight I will keep swallows in mind.
Today I saw a large flock of birds flying in a line shaped formation, the line across the direction of flight, with the ends lagging so it was more a big crescent than a straight line. There were hundreds of birds in the flock, maybe 500 or more. The flock was fairly high, about 50m, so I couldn't see what sort of birds. I don't think its the time of year for migration.
maybe you need to ask them for id Greg as we don't seem to be getting very far :)
I still see these birds flying up my valley, I'm pretty sure they are starlings, probably they are travelling between towns. For me it raises some interesting questions. Why do starlings do this long distance commuting? How do these flocks know where to go? They must have a mental map of the countryside with knowledge of towns suitable for starling flocks and routes between. They fly very low so they aren't navigating by looking long distances, and they must have some way of communicating their intentions to each other.
Starlings don't usually fligh close to the ground do they? Or do they?
Do these birds appear at the same time or times each day, Greg?
Is there a bird watching group near you which has identified them?
A few weeks back, I had a flock of starling fly low over the driveway very fast. They are rarely seen from home. This group I'm pretty sure was heading for its roost as it was that time of the afternoon.
As for the very large flock of birds high up mentioned further up, have you considered Ibis?
Ryu
Canberra
Aiming for DSLR-quality shots with a bridge camera
They sound like Starlings to me. They roost in the reeds at my wetlands and when i go there early you can hear them chatting away and when it gets light enough it goes quiet and several large groups start to leave, its quite a sight to see. Some groups fly low and some high. I assume they know where the food is and are heading for that area and at the end of the day come back to their favourite roost.
Shorty......Canon gear
Canberra
http://www.flickr.com/photos/rawshorty/
Woodswallows could be another possibility, I have seen White-browed Woodsallows in huge flocks.
There are a lot of starlings nearby (about 15km in Bathurst) and these look the same, though it is hard to be certain when they fly so low and fast. Just a whir of wings and about one second to watch them fly over, often in the early morning but sometimes the evening. Perhaps there is a roost somewhere in the district that they are flying to/from.
More & more they sound like Starlings. I've noticed large flocks of Starlings flying to roost, usually fairly high, on an island at Pt Elliot & in reeds & Melaleucas at Milang in SA.
I'm not too far from Bathurst and I also had a mystery flock. I eventually managed to ID them and they turned out to be European Goldfinch. From a distance they look dark but photos showed up the light wing bands.