Dusky Woodswallows
Dusky Woodswallow
One of those infrequent visitors to our garden is the Dusky Woodswallow, shown in the photo above. In fact, they more often just fly over head on their way somewhere else and don’t even land in our garden. I still count in on my “Garden List” of birds seen. My rule is: if I can see or hear the bird standing in my garden, I count it. We did have them nesting in a tree in our front scrub, but that was many years ago.
Over the last week I have been working outside in the garden – when the hot, summer weather permitted. On a number of occasions a small flock of a dozen or so Dusky Woodswallows flew overhead, hawking insects for minute or two before gliding off elsewhere. They never seem to hang around for long.
Some of the woodswallow species here in Australia can be quite spectacular when they gather in large flocks. On a few occasions I have seen flocks numbering in the many hundred. Quite a sight.
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I’ve only ever seen one masked woodswallow. It flitted around my back fence for about an hour some years ago. It took me some to time track down what sort of bird it was afterwards. They don’t seem to fly over or linger in Sydney.
One of the most beautiful of Australian birds!
Hi there Ken – woodswallows tend to be far more common in the dryer, inland parts of our continent, so it’s not surprising you haven’t seen many.
I agree with you Brenton – I always take delight in seeing any of the woodswallow family.
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