White-throated Swifts making a feeding stop above Arkansas River in CO

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The day after I enjoyed that wonderful mixed flock of birds in Florence River Park I returned to see if any had extended their stay. Only a few remained at this location. However, a very nice flock of around a half dozen migrating White-throated Swifts had made this location a feeding stop.

They sometimes flew quite close to the Arkansas River as they picked off the apparent abundance of insects on which they feed. Boy oh boy, do they move fast! Trying to get a reasonable photo was a real challenge. While not great (terrible back lighting so virtually no features) I think these photos show some interesting views of these highly skilled flyers.


The top pic shows their slender wings and tail, the latter pulled in and appearing quite pointed.  In the middle pic the swift has it's wings tucked in for very fast flight (not that they were flying slow otherwise).  And I think the bottom pic looks more like an airplane that a bird.  If you look closely there is a little of the the white sides of it's it's rump (just behind wings towards the top) showing--the white throat, belly and secondary tips didn't come through.

These swifts stayed over, possibly grounded by the rainy weather last week, and I saw them several days more. SeEtta

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