CrazyM Bird & Nature Photography
Birding in British Columbia, Canada
On checking one of the Tree Swallow nests on my walk this afternoon,
… the chicks were finally poking their heads out to check the surroundings.
The adults were busy making regular food deliveries.
Great fun to watch and to photograph. Will have to try for some better shots before the chicks have fledged and left the nest.
Bonus bird of the day was this Savannah Sparrow when leaving and the rain was starting.
While it was a fairly quiet afternoon on my walk there were still a couple of thing going on. One particular tree had a couple of Savannah Sparrows coming and going.
Busy foraging amongst the branches with this one catching a small insect of some sort,
… and then it is down the hatch.
Followed by a nice contented pose afterwards.
Still no young visible yet outside the Tree Swallow nest. While watching them,
… a Black-capped Chickadee was also making regular food deliveries to its nest.
While out for a short walk this afternoon and continuing to follow-up on the Tree Swallow nests, still waiting for signs of young poking their heads out, something else caught my eye. In addition to the swallows buzzing around hawking for insects were some Black Swifts. While somewhat similar in appearance to swallows, they are a different family of bird and noticeably larger with broad square tails.
Unlike the swallows which will take time to rest on branches, the Black Swift will stay aloft continually hunting for insects during the day. This means it is very unlikely you will get them posing for you on a nice perch.
Your only opportunity will be trying to get them in flight. This can be both challenging and frustrating trying to photograph a relatively dark bird with a bright sky and not end up with a black blog. Fortunately there was some direct light on them occasionally and I did manage a couple. The bonus is that the Black Swift shots from today are a new addition to my life photo list.