Tag: swallow

Angry Barn Swallow

As I approached the parking lot at Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge just before taking the loop road there were myriads of swallows flying around as per usual in spring and early summer.  I noticed this Barn Swallow on a post and decided to take a few shots.  It let me approach very closely and I didn’t know why at first but it soon became very apparent that this bird was in distress.     If you look closely at the image above you’ll notice that there is “something” connecting the tips of a tail feather and one of the primary wing feathers that prevented this bird from flying and as a result it was a very unhappy and frustrated bird!       I photographed this swallow for over 10 minutes as it struggled to solve its incomprehensible problem.      It would alternately attempt to break the connection by raising and extending its wings and…      trying to reach the problem area with its beak, which it just couldn’t quite do.      At times its apparent anger and frustration (anthropomorphic of me, I know) became quite evident as it would momentarily cease struggling and just sit there and call out pitifully.  But eventually the connection between the feathers broke and the bird flew off instantly – so fast that I missed the shot.  I still don’t know for sure what substance caused this problem.  It has been suggested by others that it could have been spider silk.  I’ve also wondered about the possibility of sticky tree…

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Pied-billed Grebe Feeding Behaviors

Pied-billed Grebes are fascinating little birds with a chip on their shoulders.  They are pugnacious, full of personality and quite small.  They don’t seem to get a lot of attention from bird photographers, possibly because of their generally drab colors and because they’re so common.  I really enjoy watching and photographing their behaviors. I’ve stated here before that “behavior” is a major focus of this blog and if I have images of interesting behaviors that are less than perfect technically I will still post them if they illustrate the behavior well.  There are several in that category in this post.    Grebe with young carp Carp are the primary food for these birds in many of the ponds I frequent.  Even young fish can make a huge mouthful for these very small grebes.       Swallowing a carp I’ve seen it take several minutes for a grebe to finally work one of these huge (for them) fish down their throats.  And I’ve yet to see one give up on the meal because it’s too big.     A slippery meal Fish are slimy and slippery and sometimes get away from the grebe temporarily, though they always seem to be recaptured.      A potential thief in the background  These birds are very social so there’s nearly always other grebes close by when one catches a meal and some of them will invariably try to steal the prize from its rightful owner.  This can make for some very interesting but challenging encounters for the photographer because the action is usually so…

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