cliff swallow

Cave Swallow (Petrochelidon fulva)

Cliff Swallow (Petrochelidon pyrrhonota gainieri)

Cliff Swallow (Petrochelidon pyrrhonota subsp. ganieri) Mud gathering for nest building. Lake Bryan, Bryan, Brazos County, Texas, USA. Disturbed park-like setting in a disturbed Post Oak Savannah Vegetational Area around the lake at ca. 119 m (390 ft) elevation.

Two-faced Cliff Swallow (Petrochelidon pyrrhonota subsp. ganieri) Bridge over US 290 near Millican, Brazos County, Texas, USA. Peach Creek bottomlands, Post Oak Savannah Vegetational Area at ca. 250 ft elevation. Millican April 2016

Cliff Swallow (Petrochelidon pyrrhonota subsp. ganieri) Bridge over US 290 near Millican, Peach Creek bottomlands, Post Oak Savannah Vegetational Area at ca. 76 m (250 ft) elevation. Milican, Brazos County, Texas, USA. April 2016

The Swallows were out in major force again today at the marsh.

Can't be much freer than a swallow, and the cliff swallows certainly are skilled masons. They were constructing their nests on the struts and cement walls under a bridge that the shoreline path crosses over, so leaning over the bridge railing I was eyeball to eyeball with this little builder. If...

While traveling through Colorado we stopped by a resevoir to have lunch. Under a overhang was a colony of these beautiful birds with their mud nests. The worked together to feed each other's families.

OK. That's it for my swallow day, or at least for my swallows that day.

On my second hike of April 28, at Don Edwards preserve, we took the same trail where we'd seen the brine flies a couple of weeks before. Not so many now, but maybe still some, or some other shore-related flies, since the Western sandpipers were hopping along the waterline and swallows were...

It was fascinating watching the cliff swallows. There was of course a lot of swooping and bobbing on the wind, nest building, birds peering out from their structures (which look like hanging yurts, stacked every which-way on the bridge struts), the coordination of in-coming and out-going birds...

I'm used to seeing birds' bellies as I look up into the trees, but not used to seeing them when looking down from a bridge. I've cropped only a little bit on this one, just enough to take out what was visible of the nest, even though it might not have been recognizable as such.

Day before take-off to the US I did a dawn walk at Hayward shoreline. I'm happy to report that the cliff swallows were back. They're still building, but the nests are habitable already. This one is headed back to the nest with building materials, but had to flutter in a holding pattern while...

Taken in rural lancaster.

Another bird from Montana. Tried to get a flight shot of one of these guys for about a half hour. This was about as good as I got, ha. They are fast and can turn on a dime.

These birds are abundant, making their nests underneath the bridge over the river.

A final word about the New Sigma: For tracking, when I set the 40D to AI Servo, the burst rate is reduced to around 3-4 fps as judged by the shutter clicks. I am happy to take this les along with me for any casual birding trip, but if I have any specific object in mind, say, a rare bird sighted...