With apologies to Rodgers & Hammerstein for the title, swallows are everywhere this time of year and this seems like as good a time as any to share some swallow photos and invite you to this Open Thread.
Swallows, of which there are about 90 species, are small, with pointed narrow wings, short bills, and small weak feet; some species have forked tails. Plumage may be plain or marked with metallic blue or green, and the sexes look alike in most species.
Swallows spend much of their time in the air, capturing insects. They are among the most agile of passerine birds (and absolutely among the most difficult to photograph). For nesting, swallows may use a hole or cranny in a tree, burrow into a sandbank, or plaster mud onto a wall or ledge, as you’ll see in some of the photos that follow.
Although there are many species of swallows, the most abundant ones we see around the U.S. are Cliff Swallows, Violet-green Swallows, Bank Swallows, Northern Rough-wing Swallows, Cave Swallows, Barn Swallows, Tree Swallows and Purple Martins, which are closely related.
Here are some of them. Feel free to add your own or share your own birding observations in the thread below.
It’s pretty easy to find swallow’s mud houses — just look for scores of biirds acrobatically swooping and swirling and banking and zooming in all directions. I don’t know how they avoid smashing into one another in the air. Amazing buit-in radar. But they’ll lead you right to the houses which you’ll find under ledges in all kinds of places. In Novato, CA, that has happened to be over the main entrance of the Target store. Target had to undertake an elaborate construction project with scaffolding and netting to protect the birds. Quite the sight.
Not quite as easy is finding swallows who are cavity nesters. They typically find an old abandoned nest or natural cavity and set up housekeeping. In the series of shots below, I just happened to be in the right place at the right time. The photos tell the story.
And here’s one last shot with a couple of Cliff Swallows peeking out from their living rooms.
Hope you all are having a great Sunday. Share what you’ve got.