jdr

Anyone else getting the birds like this ?

chrismortley

Have they got white breasts ? I can't quite see clearly from the photo.
If by chance they have , we had a flock of them or something very similar darting around our apartment block a few weeks ago.
They looked like part of the swift/swallow to me family feeding on insects while in flight .
Never seen them there before.
Chris

jdr

They do have white breasts, i think they are swallows.
Every year they arrive and build clay nests in some of the apartment balcony roof corners, we tie polythene bags up to frighten them off.
They skim across the pool to collect the water to make the mud.
Around now they all seem to sit on the wires getting ready for the off, but I don`t know where they go from here, maybe somewhere cooler.

chrismortley

We had quite a few sitting on our window ledges , I'm no Bill Oddie but I didn't think they roosted like that I thought they were always on the wing ?
They weren't building nest though or not while we was there.
I'm sure someone with greater knowledge will give us the full run down by the end of the day
I had more enjoyment watching them than England but that's not saying much
Chris

jimenato

Here we have Swallows and Martins - the Martins nest under the roof overhangs of many of the village houses. They are not always popular on account of their toilet habits but they are great fun to watch - great flyers.

The ones which don't roost are Swifts which are unrelated to Swallows and Martins - they are in fact closer to Hummingbirds. When they leave the nest they stay on the wing, without landing, for three years only then landing to breed.

Some interesting facts here

jojojojojo

We have them and they dive at our pool, skimming the surface water to have a drink!!!

Jo xxxx

pwwm

Yes we get them do this as well, love seeing them all sit on the telephone wire lol

HBG

We've got swallows that swoop over the pool surface for a drink, wagtails that do the same to scoop up dead insects, bats that have a drink when the sun sets, and silly lizards who climb in and can't get out again. I rescue as many of those as I can and hate to find a drowned one in the morning.

I also rescue drowning hornets but you get no thanks from them, just a nasty sting.

jdr

Thanks for the link, these must be Swallows then cos they land on the wires to have a chat.
When there is a noise they all fly round like loonies then land again.

Cazzy1

Yeah they are swallows, we have them. They flocking and are getting ready to go to Africa!

Casa Santo Estevo

They could be Swallows, Swifts, or House Martins. If one of these it could be any number of different sub speices.
http://www.iberianature.com/material...pine_swift.htm
The last posting.
http://www.orniteca.com/viewtopic.php?f=3&t=331
http://www.pajaricos.es/v/v1/vencejocomun.htm
http://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Delichon_urbicum

Dick Dasterdly

Difficult to tell from that photo, if they are swallows or martins.
Close up its not difficult,with the swallows having a longer fork tail and a speck of red under the chin.
Swallows are the most spectacular, flying so low they actually sweep the ground with their wing tips at times,even had them brush across my ear on a couple of occasions.
Martins are a little similar but tend to be more communal than swallows.
I've seen as many as thirty nests,all joined onto each other under one house eaves in Extremadura.
Swifts are very different,larger,darker with a distinctive crescent shape to their wings tending to stay slightly higher than the swallows.
Interesting shot of an alpine swift,shall keep an eye out for that one.

jimenato

I don't think they'll be Swifts - Swifts don't sit on wires.

Relampago

The spring and the summer is an impressive show of the Nature, at least in my city, where thousands and thousands of swallows (golondrinas), ariplanes (aviones) and swifts (vencejos), all of the same family, they make incredible flights and screaming, I suppose that hunting insects

For the description that you give, white (and I suppose that also black) and for the physical aspect of those birds (especially the tail) they are swallows or airplanes

St. John

They are here in their thousands. Two of them made a nest on top of one of the light fittings in my studio and raised three chicks.