This post about telling the difference between the most iconic summer visitors, the Swallow, Swift and House & Sand Martin. (For the purposes of this basic guide, I have grouped House and Sand Martins together as their outlines are the same, although they are two species)
Generally speaking, most people new to observing nature will notice Swallows, Swifts and Martins in the air. Swifts in fact rarely land at all. They are like little aircraft zooming around, backlit against the sky. Because of this, identifying between the species using their silhouetted outline is often the only clue, other than by listening for their songs and calls. So that's what we have- the silhouettes of Swallows, Swifts and Martins. Click on the images to go to the RSPB page for the bird to find out more detailed information.
Everyone loves Swallows, even if they aren’t sure what they exactly look like. Their tail streamers pretty much give them away though. These are the chaps most likely to be sitting on telephone lines, giving us the chance to admire their beautiful plumage; glossy blue-black on their back, ruby red throat and white under parts. If we carry on the transport metaphor, Swallows would be the classy sailing ships.
House Martins are cheerful little birds, stouter and more compact than both their similar cousins. They lack the streamers of the Swallow instead showing a shallowly forked short tail, shorter wings and black and white plumage. House Martins would be the plucky World War 2 bombers. Sand Martins have the same silhouette, although are brown and white and more likely to be seen lower down over water than high up in the air.
And the Swift.
The most aero-dynamic of all, rarely settling or landing other than to
breed. Long, scythe-like wings emphasise its angular shape. In free
flight its tail is pointed, with an occasional hint of a fork, but can
also be splayed out into a wedge shape to use as a brake or rudder when banking sharply in
pursuit of insects. Their dark sooty colouring and eratic flight and definitely make the
Swifts the modern fighter jets of the sky's.
