Tree Swallow

Gallery: AvianPosted April 22, 2010115 views13 comments

While shooting bluebirds this past weekend I caught this swallow who was very interested in the BB's nestbox. Everytime he would get near the box, the BB would come flying in from out of nowhere and chase him off. Territorial behavior is fun to observe, and this was the first time I'd seen a BB defending his territory as rigorously as this one did.

D300 w/sigma 50-500 @ 500
f/9
1/1000
iso 800
EV -0.7
HH
Full Frame

All Comments & Critiques are welcomed and appreciated.
Large version provided for critique

Comments

13 comments

Comment posted by Luke Ormand on April 22, 2010 at 8:20 PM

Near perfect exposure and lots of detail with good composition. I like everything about this

- Luke

Registered on February 4, 2009, 1093 Posts, 7035 Comments

Comment posted by SandyRichardsBrown on April 22, 2010 at 8:25 PM

Excellent!
Love the irridescense , pose, perch and BG.
Great exposure.

Sandy r

Registered on November 24, 2003, 3937 Posts, 12909 Comments

Comment posted by Richard Ditch on April 22, 2010 at 10:30 PM

Wonderful - what a Tree Swallow image should look like. Great exposure; nice detail; wonderful composition with perch and body position and background.

Registered on November 1, 2003, 1031 Posts, 12705 Comments

Comment posted by Gary Gulash on April 23, 2010 at 1:25 AM

Par excellence Doug! Fantastic lighting combined with a stunning setting and pose. F9 really worked here for sharpness and dof.

Registered on January 28, 2005, 879 Posts, 12098 Comments

Comment posted by Brian Gatlin on April 23, 2010 at 10:01 AM

really nice, Doug. super pose, perch, bg, and comp. exposure looks great. this is excellent.

Registered on March 21, 2009, 202 Posts, 4187 Comments

Comment posted by Dennis Plank on April 23, 2010 at 12:45 PM

Sweet, Doug. Lovely composition, detail and bg. I remember a few years ago watching a Western Bluebird pair holding off three pairs of swallows-quite a show.

Registered on January 28, 2008, 1767 Posts, 23192 Comments

Comment posted by Nate Chappell on April 23, 2010 at 1:14 PM

This is a beautiful shot Doug, great perch and composition and nice job with the exposure. I can see a little noise in the larger version, so maybe run a little nr on the bg there.

Registered on February 1, 2006, 1158 Posts, 19528 Comments

Comment posted by Nick Saunders on April 23, 2010 at 4:49 PM

Lovely head turn, light and perch Doug.

Registered on February 6, 2008, 321 Posts, 3035 Comments

Comment posted by Ron Dudley on April 23, 2010 at 8:20 PM

I agree - this is excellent, for the reasons already mentioned. Congrats Doug!

Registered on March 30, 2007, 437 Posts, 10915 Comments

Comment posted by Cheryl Molennor on April 23, 2010 at 8:21 PM

Love that he sat still for you. The color and metallic glow is great as well as the crossed wings. nice bg too

Registered on June 30, 2009, 300 Posts, 5051 Comments

Comment posted by Rob Drummond on April 24, 2010 at 3:31 AM

I'm glad I looked at the larger image Doug - the detail and plumage sheen is excellent
Nice perch too.

cheers
Rob

Registered on November 8, 2003, 617 Posts, 8267 Comments

Comment posted by Joe Paratore on April 24, 2010 at 10:08 AM

Doug…. very nice image. Nice pose &BG.
This is very ironic last week a friend and I were checking out some blue bird boxes that I have been monitoring for a number of years. We saw the same behavior. The tree swallow would sit on the box and the Male blue bird would swoop out of no were to attack it. We watch this pattern over and over for half an hour. I know the female BB was in the box sitting on the eggs. What puzzled me the most was when the female Bb was not on the nest I looked inside and the eggs where white? Never saw white BB eggs before. Do you suppose the BB can rear tree swallows like some birds do with cow birds?
I think I will post this on Bird forum. Cindy and others have a wealth of birding knowledge they might know.
Just wanted to share : :

Registered on January 31, 2007, 40 Posts, 160 Comments

Comment posted by Wayne Willison on April 24, 2010 at 4:35 PM

Doug, this is the kind of image that makes me keep looking. Great colors and comp, and the bird's markings make it look like its built for speed.

Registered on April 10, 2009, 292 Posts, 3967 Comments