Pallid Swift 121111

Discovered grounded and bedraggled by a lady out walking her dog. On first inspection this bird looked to be a lost cause but after being dried out by the car heater on the journey back to Portland it perked up to the extent that it had started screaming - click here to listen to a recording - by the time we got to the Obs. It was clearly thin and somewhat underweight at 28.9gm (BWP records a weight range for presumably healthy birds of 30-46gms) but given its much improved condition and the favourable sunny weather it seemed like the best bet would be to secure some proper documentation and let it go.

...the completely fresh plumage, lacking any sign of the onset of wing moult that would have been expected were it an adult, indicated it was a bird of the year. Seemingly diagnostic biometrics recorded included:

depth of tail fork 21mm (Pallid Swift range 22-28; Common Swift range 27-36)

difference between the outermost two tail feathers 3mm (Pallid Swift range 3-8; Common Swift range 7.5-11.5)

width of head between ridges above eyes 18mm (Pallid Swift range 15-20.5; Common Swift range 11-17)

...upon release the bird took to the air really well and looked to have started feeding over the Crown Estate field but after a couple of minutes a Sparrowhawk appeared from cover beside Lloyd's Cottage and plucked it out of the sky - sometimes you just can't win!