Amore?

On By Mike and Christy

Amore?

We watched as a pair of swallows hesitantly landed close to each other on a branch. Within a minute or two they seemed to get comfortable and began to check each other out so to speak. When the female decided she had seen enough she took to the air and the male appeared to try and follow with all his might. Unfortunately, both swallows quickly disappeared into a large flock which was feeding on insects at the pond and we soon lost track of them. I guess we will never know how this relationship ended.

63 thoughts on “Amore?”

    1. Well patience was required but not necessary that day as it was really fun watching the swallows buzz around on the pond feeding. There were several hundred swallows in the air which sometimes was a surreal experience to have that many birds buzzing around you. Thanks for the feedback and hope your weekend is full of fun.

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  6. Not to sound redundant, this IS a fantastic capture with the male’s tail spread and the female heading towards the camera! Great skill to get this! I love swallows. If I got a chance to be a bird, I’d be a swallow – their flight looks ethereal.

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    1. Thanks Eliza, watching these guys foraging for bugs on a pond was an amazing sight as there were at least a hundred. FLying about at tremendous speed with a dingle mid-air collision. If you are lucky to be a bird you sure picked a good one. Have a great weekend.

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    1. Thanks Jennifer, it was fun watching those guys and challenging to photograph and I am glad we came away with a few keepers amongst the many lousy ones. Wishing you a great and fun filled weekend.

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  12. That’s a stunning shot Mike, Swallows are one of the harder birds to capture in flight as they are so quick, this really is a rather special shot and one to be very proud of … Well done Mike.

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    1. Thanks Sreejith, we had a fun time watching thee guys buzz around us in the air and just feel lucky to have captured a couple of good images. Man to those swallows know how to fly.

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  24. Indeed, a very sweet image of a difficult to photograph set of birds.

    However, i can tell you for sure these birds are not in a mating ritual. They are not the same species. The lead bird is a Northern Rough-winged Swallow and the chasing bird is a Barn Swallow. This is probably a territorial dispute.

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    1. Greg thanks for the feedback much appreciated and also thanks for setting me straight on the specifics. Wether a love story or territorial dispute they were fun to watch. I did notice several other species of swallows buzzing around the air here as well. Do you know how common it is for multiple (maybe 4-5) species of swallow to all be in the same spot feeding.

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      1. Very common, mainly during migration. They all feed the same way; on the wing, snatching insects out of the air. After migration they tend to separate a bit more as they have differing nesting preferences. Ponds in spring that have a bug hatch on a warm sunny day really draws them in. I frequently can tally five species foraging together during migration: Barn, Tree, Violet-green, Cliff, and Northern Rough-wing. And you can toss in Vaux’s Swifts (in the West) as well.

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        1. Thanks Greg you are a wealth of knowledge. We did see Barn, Tree, Violet-Green and as you pointed out the Northern Rough Winged at this pond on that day. Pretty cool. Thanks for the lesson today it is much appreciated.

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  29. Hi Mike, I like all your comments about how much fun it was getting that shot. I know exactly what you mean. The birds on the farm here are so full of character, so noisy and so entertaining. I wish everyone could have swallows on their doorstep, what a good life that would be. Great photograph.

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    1. Thanks for the feedback and sharing your experiences with the swallows and philosophy. I love photography but overall it is the observation of the animals and plants that drives the whole ball of wax and makes it fun. Hope you are having/had a great day and I wish you all the best.

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