Photographing fighting tree swallows in very low light is an exercise in frustration. The action is fast and furious so sufficient shutter speed is unavailable to freeze the action. Keep that in mind when you see the third image in this post.
1/800, f/6.3, ISO 800, Canon 7D Mark II, Canon EF 500mm f/4L IS II USM, not baited, set up or called in
The swallows were fighting over nest cavities in an old aspen tree several days ago in eastern Idaho. This one was threatening other swallows as they flew in close to the cavity opening.
1/640, f/6.3, ISO 800, Canon 7D Mark II, Canon EF 500mm f/4L IS II USM, not baited, set up or called in
In this shot there’s a threatening bird in flight and coming in fast out of frame to the left.
Prepare yourself – the next shot is simply horrible but I do think it’s just sharp enough to show us how aggressive these little birds can be.
1/640, f/6.3, ISO 800, Canon 7D Mark II, Canon EF 500mm f/4L IS II USM, not baited, set up or called in
The swallow on the perch jumped up to meet the aggressor and they tangled in mid-air. The birds are soft because I didn’t have enough shutter speed and I lost focus on them anyway but I still enjoy seeing the action.
Maybe next time I’ll actually have some light…
Ron
Such a gorgeous bird, fantastic photos!
I have seen male robins aurally contact one another to dispute territory but I’m not certain it is documented. No one watches/photographs common birds’ disputes nor records them.
actually I have no excuse for not proof reading.
It never ceases to amaze me what battles go on over a nest cavity. We had a few days of drama here earlier this spring, when a sapsucker decided the cavity the downy woodpeckers had started was just right for him. The little downies would go after the sapsucker and even manage to chase him away from time to time, but ultimately the sapsuckers won (and there are little sapsuckers in there right now). The coveted nest is right at the head of our driveway in a dead madrone – talk about a HARD place to excavate a cavity! The downies had nested there last year but in a storm the tree broke off right at their cavity – not that they wouldn’t have dug themselves a new one anyway, as I understand it. In the first day or two of battles, LOTS of other birds came to see what the devil was going on – a hummingbird would hover around, the white-crowned sparrows and spotted towhees came out of the underbrush below the madrone, even a Stellar’s jay would show up. (The jays were nesting in the clematis on the outside of our visitor center, about 20′ away. Which is a story in itself, since they’d tried it last year and lost the eggs to a pine squirrel. But they pulled off three fledglings this year.) And we often have altercations between black-capped chickadees and tree swallows over our nest boxes. But I haven’t seen any of those get so down and dirty as the sapsucker/woodpecker battles. I tell you, it’s hard to get any work done in the spring – too much else to watch!
We are frequently reminded that ‘pecking order’ isn’t a meaningless phrase. And watch birds often indulge in acts of aggression and sometimes just plain nastiness. A cockatoo dragging a pigeon off the feeder by a wing and holding that wing in its beak as it dangles the pigeon above the ground is a case in point.
Love this series. Thank you so much.
The Great Out There is highly romanticized. It’s NOT a Disney kind of place, is it? LOL!
Just as well. I am not a disney kind of woman. I may have kissed a frog or six in my time, but I had no expectations (fortunately) that they would turn into a prince.
Great shots. Even the third one is awesome.
But I wonder why facing such challenging conditions you did not crank up ISO. Certainly the “little devil” could handle ISO 2000 or even more.
Thank you for letting us see the “horrible” one.
Great action shots. I wonder who won this little battle??
Even if the third shot is soft it sure gets the point across. I have never thought about small birds like that being so aggressive. These two obviously mean business. I join all the others in saying WOW!!
Neat! Fuzzy or not! 🙂 Beautiful little birds with an attitude! 🙂 Odds of capturing that again are slim to none in my opinion. 🙂
This demonstrates how precious a good nesting tree is…and how sad it was to lose that other super condo tree to some idiot with a hatchet…..may he or she always have a terrible time finding housing they can afford!
The bird in the first shot looks tough as nails and as mean as a snake…definitely battle ready…still, it’s aesthetically beautiful. While the second may be “soft”, the battle scene has nothing soft about it! Those tiny warriors mean business!!! Great miniseries….
Typos as usual…it’s the third not the second that is “soft” though the combatants are anything but…
well Ron, the birds may be soft in focus but i for one am exceedingly thrilled and grateful you posted this shot because it is an incredible display of behavior so remarkable and one I would never spy with my little eyes.The lack of focus also demonstrates the speed and efficiency with which the defender bird protects his prize. Thanks for posting it and I will borrow Laura’s ‘redundant’ WOW!
Oh my! Simply splendidly wonderful! The first two shots are your normal magnificent shots, but the third, while out of focus and everything, is just amazing. Personally, I can’t imagine how you’d get that shot perfectly technically correct unless you were really, REALLY lucky–like winning five bazillion-dollar lotteries in one day lucky! And in this case, the behavior capture is just WOW!