White-collared Swift

A short update from Cerro El Pital, the highest peak in El Salvador, where I am this week with a team of biologists from SalvaNATURA documenting the biodiversity of the area.

As I'm writing this, I'm using someone's phone modem to download a critical update to my iPod, which I was hoping to use in the field this evening to play owl calls. The iPod, however, claimed it was empty, and would not play anything. While this download is going on - supposedly for another five hours, on this slow connection - I figured I could post this spectacular photo of a White-collared Swift.

This is not a rare bird in the region, but of course it is rarely seen up close. Someone in our group found it on the ground, apparently incapable of flight. It also appeared to have a leg injury. Since it didn't seem like it was going to survive in the wild, we decided to collect it.

Hopefully the iPod will be operational again tomorrow, and we can try again for owls tomorrow night.

Thursday I will be back in the city and will try to post more photos of this trip. We found some exciting birds here...