Tree Swallows: A Flight Study

Tree Swallows are taunting me all over the place this year. Today they were swarming over the trees next to the parking lot where I work. It was overcast but I headed out to try and get some shots. The shots aren't stellar but they did provide a variety of displays of them in flight. Thought I would share. First up, a strong downbeat.



The most frequently seen pose, the birds flap their wings very rapidly and then glide for a bit.



That is quickly followed by a banking move to either grab an insect of just to change direction for the next run.



Sometimes they tuck in their wings a bit to increase speed.



To gain height, they spread the wings wide and flap harder before the next dive.



The speed is amazing and getting the bird in focus is a chore but always fun to watch as they navigate buildings and tree branches. I decided to focus on the tree here and snap away, hoping for a bird to fly into the frame.



A Tree Swallow in a hard banking move.



I blew up this shot to show how the bird's body is turning but its head is still level and focused on its intended destination.



Here, a pair displays two different wing shapes as they zoom overhead.



Two more Swallows gather insects over the palm trees. The one on the left appears to be in breaking mode.



A final bird soars past the trees before I head back inside.



I was only out there a few minutes and discovered I had taken over 200 shots. Most were blurry but I love the challenge of taking photos of these remarkable birds. They will be moving on in the next month or so and I will soak up every opportunity I can get to watch them feed and fly.

Hunting for a White-faced Ibis

Sit back for a longer-than-usual post but tons of photos...

Visitors to Orlando Wetlands Park near the city Christmas found a White-faced Ibis the other day. I grabbed my one shot to get out there today and found many exciting things to photograph. One the drive in down Wheeler Road I caught a glimpse of a bird in the trees. I ground to a halt and hit reverse, scrambling for the camera as I did so.

A nice light-morph Red-shouldered Hawk! Awesome view from the car window.



Once I parked, I headed down the berm paths toward the Ibis location. Yellow-rumped (Myrtle) Warblers were criss-crossing back and forth as they always do this time of year. As the sun warmed the air, Turkey Vultures took flight right over the trees and into my view.



Some even relaxed on the snags as I passed.



Looking beyond the vultures I could just make out a circling mass far, far overhead. Every now and then their feathers would catch the sunlight. White Pelicans!



I walked on toward the reported Ibis spot, scanning every bird I could out there in the very windy, lily pad covered water. No luck yet. However, a huge flock of birds up ahead. Blackbird? Maybe. But why were they flocking into the Wax Myrtles and back out again?

By the time I got closer, the flock broke up a bit and I could tell they were smaller than Blackbirds. They were thousands of Tree Swallows!



They were gathering in this spot, circling around and then swooping into the trees. It seemed to me that they were eating the fruits of the Wax Myrtles. I thought these guys ate bugs exclusively.



With the large flock just over my head I felt I could reach out and grab one at any time. It was difficult to get any single bird in the view finder. Thats what cropping is for, I guess.



Suddenly, the birds would break off from the trees and dip down to get drinks of water from the surrounding ponds. They would then fan out across the park. After a short while they would begin to regroup again.



I like this interesting shot. Note the bird in the left center flying with its head rotated all the way around!



Then it was back to the foraging. Over and over. I could have stood there all day long. However, I needed to get back to Orlando. This flock transfixed me so much that I had to force myself to keep checking the time. I stopped shooting after almost 300 images.



Oh, yeah. I finally got home and checked my images that I took of a couple of ibis way out near the tree line. One of them turned out to be what I was really after today. The White-faced Ibis.



Success with a new Life Bird and a morning filled with awe.

Lake Jessup Swallows

Went out to see what was left of the North Lake Jessup Conservation Area after TS Fay flooded the entire area after days of heavy rains. Many local roads were covered for days and the area where the Vermillion Flycatcher visited the last two years was 3 feet deep in water.

I arrived a little later than planned but found a nice windy day sweeping across what has become less of a sparrow habitat and more the actual cattle pasture that it was intended for.

The floods removed all of the weedy brush that the sparrows love and I found no sparrows on my trip at all. A few Palm Warblers darted about but nothing like the numbers of birds found previously. The only thing left were a few raptors staring at the ground in hopes of finding food and a huge flock of Tree Swallows.

Gave me a chance to try the frustrating task of getting images of little bullets soaring past every few minutes. Sometimes they would actually fly within feet of me but getting an auto-focus lens to deal with these streaking hunters was quite a chore.

Out of all of the times that I pressed the shutter release I maybe ended up with only a handful of good shots. Like this one.



One of the surprising finds was that I captured a juvenile among all of the adults swooping past. Didn't even notice the difference while I was watching.



A number of the swallows were swooping low to grab insects from the water surface just around the muddy edge. Nabbed this one milliseconds after it hit the water for a snack.



A last adult in flight.




Even if there are few birds out on this pasture it is always a thrill to be surrounded by Tree Swallows. It is a grand experience every time and brings a smile to my face though I might be 2 feet deep in mud.