Sifting Through Swifts

Today was a day not like any other. Today was the day I found one of the rarest birds I've ever seen. It all began at Coral Ave in Cape May Point. I had come looking for a few interesting spring migrants that had been making their way North. Mississippi Kites were my main goal, with a local Lark Sparrow being an early addition to my spring list.

The Lark Sparrow wasn't too tough to find. It had been hanging around Lake Lily and was still feeding is the same area it had been seen at previously. The kites were a little harder to find. Most of the Kite activity had been very high migrants lazily circling north. The pointed wings and long tails give these slender raptors away in flight. Tom Reed got me on one as it flew in large arcing circles in the sky heading north from Coral Ave.

"Anything interesting I should be looking for this morning?" I asked Tom.
"One of the counters is pretty sure they had a an interesting Vireo yesterday, possibly Black-whiskered Vireo." he responded. "Last time a rare vireo showed up, it spent most of it's time on the dead end path at the Meadows. Not Many people bird that section of the trail it can hold some surprises" Tom remarked.
"Great, I'll go check it out. Thanks for the info." I called back as I headed towards my car.

Many of you may know the birding locations of Cape May pretty well. I was heading to the South Cape May Meadows, mostly just called "the Meadows" by the locals. its a very short drive over from Coral Ave. I made my way to the gravel Parking lot and pulled in to a spot. The sand and stone trail crunching beneath my feet, I made my way to the large bird blind that had been erected on the Eastern Pool. "Nothing much going on at that pool" I thought to myself.

I made my way towards the dead end trail. Right at the base of the dunes there were two Blackpool Warblers jumping around. The sky was overcast and the ceiling low. There were lots of tree swallows, Purple Martins and a few Chimney Swifts flying over the rear pool as I approached. I was just going through the paces. "There's 5 Tree Swallows, 4 more, 15 Purple Martin's, 7 Chimney Swifts. There's another Purple Martin... wait that's not a martin. My jaw dropped as a swift species I had never seen flew about twenty feet over my head. This Dark swift was a bit larger then the local Chimney Swifts, and it had a whitish chin and a long Forked Tail.

I got some photos quick and opened my Merlin App to compare it to anything. My mind was racing, Black Swift, no, White-throated Swift, no, Pacific Swift, no... Common Swift? That's a pretty good match. Could it be a Common Swift. I sent a Message to Tom Reed, but I knew he was busy and didn't expect an answer right away. I also sent a photo to Tom Baxter and said is there anything else this could be?

"Whatever that is, it's a first state record." was his response. "post it out to the group chats quick." I posted an image with the message: Possible Common Swift, Cape May Meadows, Dead End Trail Pond, then I waited. This was all going down during the Cape May spring festival so it took people a little time to respond. It took what seemed like hours, but was probably about 25 minutes, for the first tentative search party to show up. A few birders I had met before. "Follow me." I said "I'll take you to where I saw it." Once again there it was in all its uncommon glory. Such an amazing bird!

After the first group came and went a small crowd began to gather, and it got bigger and bigger. By mid day the cloud cover was still keeping the birds low and about 60 people were searching the sky over the meadows. A few guided walks from the festival came by and it seemed some of the walk leaders may have diverted their walks to swing by and see this amazing sight. I met so many great birders that day, getting thanked and congratulated by those who knew me and hearing whispered conversations around me of, "Oh, that's the guy who found it? wow what a find!"

Now came the interesting part. as the day wore on the clouds lifted, as did the birds. The swifts and others now high in the sky just dots against the sea of blue and white above. People who arrived later now had to work much harder to find the swift among the swarming birds. There was one voice that stood out against the positive vibes being thrust my way at this point. "You really shouldn't call an Apus Swift without really great views or photos comparing it to the other very similar species." said a very knowledgeable birder. I don't know if they knew how close this bird was to me earlier. I had amazing views and some good photos to work with. "What other species should I compare it with?" I asked, hesitant about the answer. "While Common Swift would be the most likely candidate, Pallid Swift is on the watch list for the US. That's about it, but those two are very hard to tell apart even by a trained birder."

I had my task. Prove to myself and the birding community at at large it was, in fact, a Common Swift. I spent five hours combing through websites and Field Guides looking for definitive field marks. Finally, I was satisfied with my ID. I have added the checklist here if you want to check out what else was seen during my trip around the meadows.

Common Swift Checklist