Barn Swallows
I tried photographing Barn Swallows during a two-week period back in May.
They are quite the acrobats! And quite the challenge!
Here are five shots I liked the best.
Barn Swallow
Barn Swallow
Barn Swallows
Barn Swallow
Barn Swallow collecting nesting materials
Barn Swallows are the most abundant and widely distributed swallow species in the world. They breed throughout the Northern Hemisphere and winter in much of the Southern Hemisphere.
So cute! ❤️
Thanks John!
Fantastic photos. To capture the shine from their feathers is great.
Thank you very much!
All five are fantastic shots! I also tried in the past but never got anything that close, and usually a blur.
Thank you, Hien! Boy, they are quite acrobatic, very hard to judge their next move in fligh. I trashed a heap of shots, lol.
I do not really know why, but sometimes these swallows look a little angry, especially compared to the usual house swallow. You have caught the swallows well when they do what they do best, flying fast and fetching material for their nestbuilding. Nice light!
Thank you, Hans! I see that little anger look in them you’re talking about, lol. Swallows are definitely entertaining, and their chitter-chatter is cute. 🙂
Excellent work to get such good shots of these flighty customers.
Thank you, Tom! I think I could hear them laughing with me as I tried to photograph them, it was a fun time.
Lovely little birds and great captures Donna. They are very similar to our Welcome Swallow.
They are beautiful and shiny! You really captured their beauty.
Thank you, they enjoyed making me work for the few photos I lucked out with. 😉
Nice pix, Donna! I love barn swallows, fantastic flyers that they are. Sadly, with the loss of many of our dairy farms (and barns) we are seeing a fraction of the numbers there were when I was a kid.
Thank you, Eliza! So sorry to hear you don’t see as many these days. I’m used to seeing them around water, where they reside under docks and boardwalks. They aren’t too pleased during breeding when you can’t help but walk ‘over’ their nests. Can’t blame them, lol.
Beautiful in flight shots, Donna!
Thank you, Deborah!
You’re welcome!
Wonderful shots, Donna. They are good looking birds. Fast flyers. 🙂
Thank you, HJ! Fast for sure, lol! They love to tease you photographing them. 😉
They are so cute! 💙😊
They certainly are, and their chitter-chatter is adorable too! 😊
Great captures of these speed demons, Donna! They are so fast, love your in-flight shots, nice contrast in how they use their tails.
Thank you, Ellen! They make me laugh trying to photograph them, that tail is a great acrobatic steering wheel! 😉
Wonderful captures, Donna. I never tire of watching and photographing these elegant flyers.
Thank you, Tanja, me neither! 🙂
I would have never expected that, Donna. 🙂
Beautiful captures! So hard to compose these. You did a great job.
Thank you, Sandra! Swallows definitely make you ‘work’ for their photos, while teasing you, lol.
Awesome photos of this little cutie! I think our Welcome Swallows are like a sub species of these, and they fly so fast they are very difficult to photograph, but they are incredible to watch as they dart about madly catching insects on the fly. So well done on the first photo of a swallow mid flight. 🙂
Thank you, Sue! Yes, Swallows are so quick to turn and swoop and dive, it’s fun to watch them chase each other too. 😊
Great job! They are tough to capture in a picture!
Thank you, Kathy! They certainly don’t make it easy! 🙂
Great images Donna! They are fun & challenging to photograph!
Thank you, Reed, for sure!!
Lovely photos! We are looking forward to the first Barn Swallows to arrive here at the southern end of Africa in a couple of weeks time. They don’t look as pristine as the ones in your photos, after the long journey from Europe, but we are glad to see them as it means our summer is not far off
Thank you, Don! I can only imagine their appearance after such a long journey, they are worthy of a rest when they reach you for sure!
Lovely photographs, Donna…very swift fliers they are!
Thank you, Indira, they make for great practice practice practice and still they are a challenge! 😉
Love barn swallows. Those are beautiful captures, Donna. 😊
Thank you, Irene! I really had to work extra hard and long for these! 😉
I can imagine! They are super quick. 😊
Wow! Not easy to capture. I really like your photos. The two birds together look like they are watching the world around them and having a chat.
Thank you, Jane! I have a fun time with swallows. I think the two sitting together were chatting about me and my antics on trying to capture their flying buddies…. 😂
Really nice to see flight photo of this fast bird, well done Donna! I have tried to capture it as well, but usually its wings are pointing down 😂 not like in your photos.
Thank you, Minna! Whew, I feel lucky just to get any flying shots, I trashed so many I lost count. 😂 But I do love their and all birds challenge when in flight. 😊
Attractive little birds. Nice photos, Donna!
Thank you, Belinda!
One of my favorite swallows. I saw one today at the beach! 🙂
The swallows in my photos were at the beach. 🙂
That’s interesting because the swallows we see most often at the beach are Tree Swallows but I had a Barn Swallow fly right over me on the boardwalk as we were hurriedly trying to get to the car as a lightning storm developed within a matter of a 1/2 hour. No photo. LOL!
I shot these that were nesting under a boardwalk along Sinepuxent Bay that is behind Assateague Island in Maryland. Just about wherever there are boat docks or boardwalks around the Chesapeake Bay region, there are Barn Swallows nesting. 🙂
Yeah, they are all over Texas too so when I go back home, I can see them under the eaves of restaurants and such. The Cliff Swallows are found out there under dams & bridges. Harder to see them here often like that. 🙂
What amazing catches! Believe me, I know how difficult they are to capture with a lens.
Thank you, Gunta! Lots of luck!! 😊
Weeeeeeee! I just love those tail feathers.
Thank you, Vic! They are pretty tails!
Great captures! We have the tree swallows here and I know they are very quick!