Showing posts with label Barn Swallow. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Barn Swallow. Show all posts
Sunday, December 8, 2024
Sunday, July 9, 2023
Sunday, May 7, 2023
Sunday, July 10, 2022
Monday, July 4, 2022
070422 Worth the Waiting For the Best of Nature to Show
070422 Barn Swallow Female Adult (Bottom)
Barn Swallow Juvenile (Top)
The moms had the kids out and they were stretching their wings, as well as being fed. There were eleven Barn Swallows out today, which were mostly young ones. Fortunately, I got a couple of nice photo ops for this holiday.
Closeup of Juvenile Barn Swallow
With the position of the young bird in the top photo, we see a lot more down, but it is the same bird. I believe this one is the youngest bird I have photographed as a photographer.
Female Downy Woodpecker
Either I followed the woodpeckers or they followed me. I saw both the mother and the young male progeny, but her photo is the best out of the two.
This is the first sighting of the gnatcatcher this year. It is nice having them close to home. Luckily, this is the year that my overgrown hotspot is really producing as a second growth riparian area, though there are some older trees here, too.
Yellow-billed Cuckoo
Same area netted this beauty, which I knew was around, as it was heard.
dark morph female Eastern Tiger Swallowtail
Plenty of butterflies out today. This one gave a great viewing the moment that I saw it, so speed was necessary on getting this shot.
0655-0810/80-84 F (heat index 76-86)/partly cloudy/ESE5-S9/71-69% RH/29.98 Hg and steady - 29.98 Hg and rising
Sunday, April 10, 2022
Sunday, October 17, 2021
Sunday, June 6, 2021
Saturday, May 1, 2021
Saturday, March 20, 2021
Saturday, November 7, 2020
Sunday, May 31, 2020
Monday, October 7, 2019
Monday, September 2, 2019
Saturday, June 15, 2019
Green Herons Study and Learn Though Their Surroundings
Barn Swallow
Cliff Swallows
060919
0700-0730/74-75 F/mostly cloudy/NNW-4/77-79% RH/29.99-30. Hg and rising
This was a good day to observe all swallows, as many had finally fledged from their gourd-shaped mud nests along Lakeview Road Bridge. The two swallows that breed regularly in Oklahoma are Cliff, Northern Rough-winged, and Barn Swallows. Cave Swallows have been observed as far south as Manitou in 2015 and photos have been obtained for breeding birds at the Wichita Mountain NWR in 2012 with earlier breeding individuals unproven since 201l. They may have made it as far north as Lake Thunderbird in Norman in 2017. Non-breeders are also seen regularly this year along the Red River, and there could be breeding birds at Red Slough.
No doubt that within the next decade they will be breeding in Stillwater, as well, possibly at Boomer Lake. The higher likelihood could be at Lake Carl Blackwell for Payne County.
Adult Green Heron departs The Cove, as
immature Green Herons await a morsel.
Hopeful Green Herons for slurry
A Parent of Clutch 1
Young Green Herons Explore Home Base
Immature Green Herons Enticed by Other
Species in Flight
Several teen Heron Chicks
Exercise Those Wings
Getting the Right Idea By Watching Others
Rapt Attention On a Passing Great-tailed Grackle
Plenty of Stimulation For Young Minds In Area
Not Missing Anything
Young Green Heron Seeks Flight Instruction
Is Food On the Wing?
Dinner Is Served, But It Won't wait Long
Can You Hear Us Now?
Feeding Frenzy Is About to Begin
Helpers Are Here For Feeding Chores
Moving Around Faster Helps Muscles Grow
Wings and Legs Get Experience
Where's the Fish?
Helpers Make Youngsters Work
For Their Meals
Waiting Nets Nothing
Using Wings For Balance
On the Lookout
Brown Thrasher In Nest
Adults Take a Break
Waiting to Turn Fish to Slurry
061019
0719-0837/64-69 F/clear/N-11/70-64% RH/30.41-30.46 Hg and rising
It's hard work being a Green Heron, unless one is a lazy Green Heron, and like any other bird, survival means work. The young will lollygag for as long as they can, unless they are pushed by family, and sometimes they have to be pushed hard. Observing other species is important and sometimes the basis for flight is learned in that manner, but it must be done quickly in order to survive.
Birds have an accelerated growth rate. They don't live as long as humans and there's a big difference between a two-month-old human and a two month old bird, as they have to migrate during the same year. Hatching in May and heading south on the bird's own power in October is not a lot of time to grow up as a migratory species. This is part of the reason why only half the young make it to their destination for the winter (our winter), and half of those return as helpers the following year.
It is true that the adult males migrate first in many species to set up a territory. The adult female will then follow a couple of weeks later. They then build a nest and get right to business shortly after their arrival in the northern hemisphere to breed. There is no time to waste.
If they arrive when it is too cold, there may be no food in some cases. They may have to wait, and if they arrive too late, some will miss their opportunity for the season. Global warming or climate change waits for no bird.
As time progresses, the cycle may come together for many birds, but there will always be a few that continue to delay, and if that is the case, the species will not survive to prosper. However, birds have been around longer than we have, so they may realize that they must persevere through adjustments.
This will be a learning experience for them and for us. If we choose to negate the data, that is on us, but birds have very real criteria to handle, and their DNA pushes them forward.
Sunday, June 2, 2019
Thursday, June 21, 2018
Starring the Cliff Swallow
Barn Swallow
Cliff Swallow
Cliff Swallows including recently fledged
More Cliff Swallows In Flight
Ditto
Ditto
Adult and Juvenile Cliff Swallows
Ditto
06-18 and 06-19-18
Last month when we visited Wichita Mountains National Wildlife Refuge, my mind was made up that this was going to be the year that Cliff Swallows would be part of my photo lineup.
Swallows are some of the most challenging to photograph, especially the Cliff Swallows, as they rarely are at rest. With this being the end of fledglings, it was the most logical time to make this attempt and succeed.
It still was not terribly easy, but the bonus was getting shots of the fledglings, too.
You may have heard that swallow feet are very tiny and rudimentary, which is true in the cases of some of them. For those that don't perch on their feet much, muscles will atrophy and lose their strength.
Take as close a look at the feet of these birds as possible, and you'll noticed that they appear to be quite small for their size. You'll notice the young ones clinging to the wall of the bridge in order to keep purchase. That could be the most workout that those little feet will get.
Soon, I will choose a grouping of photos to include all the swallows in my photo gallery so that you might observe some of this family of birds, the Hirundinidae.
I still have yet to photograph the Bank and Cave Swallows, so wish me luck. It just might happen eventually and when it does, you'll be the first to know
Tuesday, June 19, 2018
Life In the Breeding Season Lane at Boomer Lake
Brown Thrasher
Ditto
Male Great-tailed Grackle and Fledgling
Great-tailed Grackle Fledgling
Green Heron Adult
Eastern Phoebe
American Robin
Barn Swallow
Red-winged Blackbird
First Half June 2018
There has been a great deal of activity this year, not that there was appreciably less last year, BUT there were less birds. Every year, though, some species tend to outweigh others, and this year is no different.
Some species arrived a little earlier, set up at nesting sites, but didn't begin nesting until the usual time. Other species began nesting right away and lost clutches due to a spring cold snap, but the important thing is that they tried again.
With our earth heating up as it is, it is going to be trial and error, especially when it comes to birds that has a relationship with water, namely shores and beaches, as their food supply is drifting northeast where it is cooler.
This is a small sample of breeding birds and fledglings, as well as nesting birds that are doing their jobs as best they can in a somewhat trying time were they must make adjustments for extra heat and food sources.
All the birds shown are generalist species, not specialists, who will have a more difficult time. Will they survive as time marches on? We'll see, and if they do--like the Greater and Lesser Prairie Chickens and other prairie specialties, they will have to make adjustments, which they are not used to doing.
Like you, I certainly hope that they can.
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