# What Sort of Bird Was This? It Could Swim! **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [May 9, 2005, 1:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-sort-of-bird-was-this-it-could-swim/303049 "2005-05-09T13:37:56Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 13\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Lissa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/85f322/32.png) [@Lissa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lissa)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2005, 1:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-sort-of-bird-was-this-it-could-swim/303049/1 "2005-05-09T13:37:56Z")
I went over to my grandfather’s farm last night. We took a walk out to his pond. While we were idly looking at it, a little birdie fell into the water. Grandma says it looked like he’d been trying to eat mosquitos, but I didn’t see him actually hit the water. The little bird used his wings as paddles, and relatively swiftly propelled himself across the surface to the shore. He swam about fifty feet to the shore. When he made it to the bank, I went over to look at him. He was tiny, about the size of a sparrow, but not as plump and rounded. His feathers were dark (but wet, so I can’t be sure of color) with smudge of irridescent blue/black around the eyes. His breast was white and he had a little black short beak. In short, he was no kind of water bird I’d ever seen. He sat frozen on the bank, looking back up at me. He did not attempt to flee back into the water, though I was less than a foot away, which leads me to believe water is not his home. He looked exhausted. I backed away because I didn’t want to drive him back into the pond. Grandma said she thought it was a swallow, but the pictures I’ve seen on the net don’t really look much like it. I did not see the bird’s tail, only his head and chest. (I didn’t see a red patch beneath his neck, either, but the angle didn’t allow close inspection.) Any ideas what this was? Birds can swim? I had no idea! ---
**Author:** ![Terminus\_Est](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terminus_est/32/3087_2.png) [@Terminus\_Est](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Terminus_Est)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2005, 2:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-sort-of-bird-was-this-it-could-swim/303049/2 "2005-05-09T14:21:38Z")
> [@Lissa](#): > > Birds can swim? I had no idea! They sure can: [http://www.zoolex.org/zoolexstat/pictdir/569/0.jpg](http://www.zoolex.org/zoolexstat/pictdir/569/0.jpg) ---
**Author:** ![Lissa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/85f322/32.png) [@Lissa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lissa)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2005, 2:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-sort-of-bird-was-this-it-could-swim/303049/3 "2005-05-09T14:48:20Z")
> [@Terminus Est](#): > > They sure can: [http://www.zoolex.org/zoolexstat/pictdir/569/0.jpg](http://www.zoolex.org/zoolexstat/pictdir/569/0.jpg) Well, yeah, but those are aquatic birds. Ducks can swim, too, but I’m not amazed by that. This was a “flying birdie”, not one you commonly see in the water. ---
**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2005, 2:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-sort-of-bird-was-this-it-could-swim/303049/4 "2005-05-09T14:51:37Z")
Sounds like a clumsy swallow to me, probably a juvenile. There are many kinds of swallows, and young ones often are different in plumage from adults. Offhand, it sounds like it might have been a Tree Swallow or maybe a Purple Martin rather than the more common Barn Swallow. Swallows commonly fly low over water to catch insects or to drink. I’ve never seen one take a dunk, but I suppose it occasionally happens. And when non-aquatic birds find themselves in the water, they may use their wings to thrash themselves to shore. (Swallows have particularly short legs that would be useless for paddling,) ---
**Author:** ![Twoflower](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/twoflower/32/22_2.png) [@Twoflower](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Twoflower)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2005, 2:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-sort-of-bird-was-this-it-could-swim/303049/5 "2005-05-09T14:59:08Z")
Perhaps a [black phoebe](http://www.enature.com/fieldguide/showSpeciesIMG.asp?imageID=17511) ? The swimming expedition defintely sounds like an accident. ---
**Author:** ![Terminus\_Est](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terminus_est/32/3087_2.png) [@Terminus\_Est](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Terminus_Est)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2005, 2:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-sort-of-bird-was-this-it-could-swim/303049/6 "2005-05-09T14:59:59Z")
OK. serious answer: It could have been a [kingfisher](http://www.english.uiuc.edu/maps/poets/a_f/everson/birds/kingfisher.jpg). Or, as **Colibri** suggests, a clumsy swallow. ---
**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2005, 3:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-sort-of-bird-was-this-it-could-swim/303049/7 "2005-05-09T15:04:15Z")
> [@Terminus Est](#): > > OK. serious answer: It could have been a [kingfisher](http://www.english.uiuc.edu/maps/poets/a_f/everson/birds/kingfisher.jpg). Very unlikely. The “black short bill” described in the OP doesn’t fit for a Kingfisher. Also I think the blue coloration would have been obvious - and a Belted Kingsher would not be described as a “small bird.” ---
**Author:** ![MikeS](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/919ad9/32.png) [@MikeS](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MikeS)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2005, 3:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-sort-of-bird-was-this-it-could-swim/303049/8 "2005-05-09T15:05:19Z")
The only bird I can think of that likes the water but isn’t obviously an aquatic bird is the [a href=“[http://www.birdphotography.com/species/amdi.html](http://www.birdphotography.com/species/amdi.html)”]American Dipper, which hangs out around fast-flowing water, dives in, and scoots along the bottom looking for insects before resurfacing. But they’re only really native to the Rockies, and there’s certainly no reason they would have been hanging out near a pond somewhere. ---
**Author:** ![MikeS](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/919ad9/32.png) [@MikeS](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MikeS)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2005, 3:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-sort-of-bird-was-this-it-could-swim/303049/9 "2005-05-09T15:09:45Z")
Gah! [Fixed link](http://www.birdphotography.com/species/amdi.html). ---
**Author:** ![TwoTrouts](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/a9adbd/32.png) [@TwoTrouts](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TwoTrouts)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2005, 3:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-sort-of-bird-was-this-it-could-swim/303049/10 "2005-05-09T15:11:55Z")
Another possibility, if is was chasing mosquitos, is a [chimney swift](http://www.ronausting.com/images/00/chimneyswiftnest00.jpg) that inadvertently took a plunge. They can flap and paddle their way to shore, just not very gracefully. ---
**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2005, 3:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-sort-of-bird-was-this-it-could-swim/303049/11 "2005-05-09T15:39:49Z")
> [@MikeS](#): > > The only bird I can think of that likes the water but isn’t obviously an aquatic bird is the [a href=“[American Dipper (Cinclus mexicanus)](http://www.birdphotography.com/species/amdi.html)”]American Dipper, which hangs out around fast-flowing water, dives in, and scoots along the bottom looking for insects before resurfacing. But they’re only really native to the Rockies, and there’s certainly no reason they would have been hanging out near a pond somewhere. Dippers also “fly” underwater using their wings. A Dipper wouldn’t swim on the surface, and it also wouldn’t have had any difficulty if it had found itself in the water. ---
**Author:** ![Lissa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/85f322/32.png) [@Lissa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lissa)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2005, 6:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-sort-of-bird-was-this-it-could-swim/303049/12 "2005-05-09T18:35:01Z")
> [@Colibri](#): > > Sounds like a clumsy swallow to me, probably a juvenile. There are many kinds of swallows, and young ones often are different in plumage from adults. Offhand, it sounds like it might have been a Tree Swallow or maybe a Purple Martin rather than the more common Barn Swallow. I found a picture of a [Tree Swallow](http://www.nhptv.org/natureworks/treeswallow.htm) and I think that’s it. I think you’re right about it being a juvenile-- it was a bit smaller than the description. You learn something new every day! ---
**Author:** ![siberia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/siberia/32/9129_2.png) [@siberia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/siberia)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2005, 7:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-sort-of-bird-was-this-it-could-swim/303049/13 "2005-05-09T19:10:31Z")
My best guess would be the aformentioned Tree Swallow or perhaps a juvenile [Purple Martin](http://www.purplemartin.org/MartinID/martinid.html) .