Thanks to Paul Leader for his comments about the Striated Swallow photos on the OBI website.
We have pulled our reference books out again : "A field guide to the birds of South East Asia" (Robson), "Birds of East Asia" (Brazil), "Swallows and Martins of the World" ( Turner & Rose) and "Handbook of the birds of the World" - Volume 9.
In HBW Vol.9, plate 68 by Hilary Burn shows six races of Red-rumped Swallow - including two streaked races - daurica (lightly streaked) and japonica (more heavily streaked). For Striated Swallow there are three illustrated races, vernayi (streaked but very rufous), striolata (lightly streaked) and stanfordi (more heavily streaked).
The illustrations (but not mentioned in the HBW text) support Paul's point about Striated Swallow streaks being heavier than the streaks of Red-rumped Swallow and flareing (getting wider) near the base of the streak.
The extent of rufous hindcollar markings does not seem to be as reliable as we'd thought and we're no longer confident that our OBI "Striated" Swallows - taken in SW Yunnan - are properly identified. To avoid confusion we shall amend identifications or remove them from the OBI website.
From a Hong Kong point-of-view it is interesting that the striolata race (see HBW etc.) of Striated Swallow occurs in both Taiwan and the Philippines.
"The Birds of HK and south China" (Viney, LAM and Phillipps) anticipates the possibility that Striated Swallow (and, for that matter, Pacific Swallow) may appear in Hong Kong
We have seen Steppe Eagle added to the Hong Kong "list" (photo by Daniel CHAN, ID'd by Paul) by means of a photograph. I'm sure that if Striated Swallow is going to be added to the HK "list" it will only be with the evidence of clear photos.
This is the challenge... let's sort out those swallows and photograph a HK "First" !
[ Last edited by John Holmes at 6/07/2009 11:42 ]
