house martin or swift?

[actionfinch]

hi peeps, just wondering, is ther any way of identifiying the house martin and the swift from afar.. i have seen a few at my work place high (ish) in the sky and im so convinced that there swifts.
Would it be possible to see the white rump on the house martin from a distance , do you think.?
cheers

[rowanalder]

Sometimes it is possible to see the white rump, but remember that House Martins also have a white underneath where as the Swift is almost all black. The Swift also have a very forked tail compared to the House Martin which is quite and short and the v is less defined.

Hope this helps,

Ro

[Adam Cheeseman]

House Martin - Dark (blue) above with a white rump and white below. Chattering call

Swift - all dark (brown, though does appear paler in places such as the throat). Scythe shaped wings beat rapidly, but also glides. Flies very fast and has a screaming call.

Hope this helps.

Cheers,

Adam

[Adam Cheeseman]

Originally Posted by rowanalder

Sometimes it is possible to see the white rump, but remember that House Martins also have a white underneath where as the Swift is almost all black. The Swift also have a very forked tail compared to the House Martin which is quite and short and the v is less defined.

Hope this helps,

Ro

The forked tail is not always visible in level flight.

Cheers,

Adam

[Johnny81]

The house martins prrrrrittt! call is pretty distinctive - to me anyway.

[diggleken]

Yes, both calls are distinctive, screaming Swift really stands out though.
I would add that Swift scythe shaped wings as Adam says, are much longer than the Martins and will be obvious.........................
Cheers
Ken

[RoyW]

Once you get to know it, the flight behaviour of both is typically distinctive enough to allow them to be separated on this alone - even at a distance without binoculars (Swallows also tend to be relatively distinctive, but Sand Martins can be very similar to House Martins at a distance).

With binoculars the shape of a Swift, with the long, narrow, swept back wings already mentioned should be possible to see (even at a distance), and is very different from the shape of martins and Swallows.

[rossy]

another give away is the way in which they fly, as swifts are aptly named, they can shift, rossy.

[Sledge]

It's swallows and house martins I'm never confident about discerning.

[Lemars]

would these outlines be of any use?

http://www.kitleyhousehotel.com/imag...ters_guide.pdf

C