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Image-of-the-Day by Subject
Birds - Swallow Page 2
Image Taken on 18 Apr 2013
at 17:50 Image of day on 30 May 2013
"Over the Rainbow"
A swallow made a couple of runs down our boundary and by chance
crossed over a rainbow just starting to form. We have colour
enhanced this a bit to make it more like we remember it.
(r+mb id@432).jpg)
Ref: 20130530_df1_20130418_1750_014 swallow against weak rainbow (enhanced crop)(r+mb id@432).jpg
Image Taken on 01 Jun 2009
at 18:23 Image of day on 03 Jul 2009
It always seems strange to see the moon in sunshine, but here
we caught a swallow flying by it. The bird is a little off focus
because it isn't 'quite' as far away as the moon (maybe 50 metres against
384,403,000 metres!). Other attempts with the bird sharp but the moon
even slightly blurred look awful.
(r+mb id@576).jpg)
Ref: 20090703_db1_20090601_1823_337 swallow and gibbous moon (single frame)(r+mb id@576).jpg
Image Taken on 28 Jun 2008
at 15:59 Image of day on 18 Jul 2008
Chance juxtaposition. They basically ignored each other. We
weren't going to include this one on this site, but
got a request from one of our e-mail group for the original to
print and frame, so it obviously has appeal!
.jpg)
Ref: 20080718_dc1_20080628_1559_251 swallow and kestrel male in same frame ignoring each other(r+mb id@576).jpg
Image Taken on 03 Sep 2010
at 16:34 Image of day on 20 Oct 2010
The excitement of what the bird hopes is a parent arriving with food.
(r+mb id@1024).jpg)
Ref: 20101020_df1_20100903_1634_466 swallow begging on wire but disappointed (crop)(r+mb id@1024).jpg
Image Taken on 17 Apr 2006
at 16:43 Image of day on 26 Apr 2006
Swallows collect water by touching the surface of pond in flight.
A thrill to see but so hard to photograph!
(r+mb id@576).jpg)
Ref: 20060426_d12_20060417_1643_673 swallow dipping into duck pond (crop & proc)(r+mb id@576).jpg
Image Taken on 15 Aug 2008
at 14:59 Image of day on 30 Aug 2008
To our relief the swallows have suddenly re-appeared complete
with families to feed. The lighting wasn't too good but we had a go anyway.
In a montage from last year they are seen feeding on the wing:-
This year first effort is easier to see yourself - look for this
wherever you see young swallows perched on wire, gutters, TV aerials etc.
If you would like a large version as a
September 2008 Calendar click on
Woodland Trust Calendars
(r+mb id@576).jpg)
Ref: 20080830_da1_20080815_1459_035 swallow failing to feed young on wires 2 of 4 (web crop)(r+mb id@576).jpg
Image Taken on 29 Aug 2007
at 13:38 Image of day on 24 Sep 2007
A new 'late' family feeding on the wires. Hope they can feed up
enough before migration.
(r+mb id@576).jpg)
Ref: 20070924_d01_20070829_1338_037 swallow feeding juvenile on wires 3 of 4 (web crop)(r+mb id@576).jpg
Image of day on 22 Aug 2006
This montage of two images taken late morning 14 Aug 2003 shows
another image of swallows feeding in flight. The camera takes
just over 3 frames/sec so these are about .3 second apart (left
to right).
(r+mb id@576).jpg)
Ref: 20060822_d10_00699+00700 swallow feeding young in flight (processed montage about 300ms apart)(r+mb id@576).jpg
Image Taken on 04 Sep 2007
at 17:41 Image of day on 30 Sep 2007
Montage of about .75 seconds of a swallow passing food to it's
chick.
.jpg)
Ref: 20070930_d01_20070904_1741_050_to_54 swallow feeding young in flight montage of 1 to 5 of 5(r+mb id@1024).jpg
Image of day on 17 Aug 2005
Adult Swallows can feed their youngster in mid-air in a wonderful
show of aerobatics. This is the 'best-so-far' image we have of this event
.jpg)
Ref: 20050817_d60_03965 swallow feeding young on the wing 2005aug10_11-54-34(r+mb id@576).jpg
Image Taken on 30 Jul 2009
at 14:44 Image of day on 06 Sep 2009
Another family of swallows visited for one day. The young were
not as advanced as the previous family because the chicks took
all their food while waiting on the wires. The parent rarely land
- just passing the insects as they almost hover and flying on to
catch more.
(r+mb id@576).jpg)
Ref: 20090906_db1_20090730_1444_109 swallow feeding young on wires 3 of 4 (web crop)(r+mb id@576).jpg
Image Taken on 30 Jul 2009
at 14:43 Image of day on 19 Sep 2009
Following yesterdays single bird take off, this is a typical
sight of young swallows being fed on wires without the parent
landing. This is an 'effect' montage - the perched bird is
obviously stationary! The insect you see in the last two appeared
only at that moment, and flew off - a lucky escape for whatever
it is.
As the chicks get stronger they start feeding themselves and
taking food from parents 'on the wing'. For a view of this from August 2007
click here to pop-up a separate window or tab.
(r+mb id@1024).jpg)
Ref: 20090919_db1_20090730_1443_096-100 swallow feeding young on wires with insect escaping 2-6 of 6 (levelled & mirrored montage)(r+mb id@1024).jpg
Image Taken on 03 Sep 2010
at 12:18 Image of day on 24 Oct 2010
Adult swallows sometimes feed their youngster on the wing.
They generally rise up facing each other to get the appropriate
beak alignment for just a moment.
 2 of 2 (crop @432)(r+mb id@432).jpg)
Ref: 20101024_df1_20100903_1218_031 swallow feeding youngster in flight (selected frames) 2 of 2 (crop @432)(r+mb id@432).jpg
Image Taken on 03 Sep 2010
at 16:39 Image of day on 23 Oct 2010
And now the adult reversing out to fly off leaving the juveniles
beak now similarly filled.
(r+mb id@768).jpg)
Ref: 20101023_df1_20100903_1639_525 swallow feeding youngster on wires 5 of 7 (crop)(r+mb id@768).jpg
Image of day on 18 Aug 2005
This image shows a piece of Swallow behaviour we have not seen
before. The swallows hovered over this Ash tree top for a second
or two beating their wings against the leaves. They then swooped
down to collect the insect(s) they dislodged. A number of
individuals were doing this from a group of about 100 feeding
over the plot for an hour or so.
.jpg)
Ref: 20050818_d60_04343 swallow flushing insects from ash tree 2005aug10_12-20-56(r+mb id@576).jpg
Image Taken on 03 Jun 2008
at 13:29 Image of day on 10 Jun 2008
We wouldn't normally try to photograph birds in flight in poor
light and even worse when raining. But about 6 were hunting
through the trees to our North only a few metres off the ground
and less then 10m from the house. So through an open window we
had a go until the rain got so hard it was too much even for the
swallows. This one seemed to catch the moment
(r+mb id@576).jpg)
Ref: 20080610_dc1_20080603_1329_073 swallow flying in rain (web crop)(r+mb id@576).jpg
Image Taken on 24 Jul 2009
at 17:17 Image of day on 04 Sep 2009
Skimming over wet grass is a favourite of swallows after rain.
(r+mb id@576).jpg)
Ref: 20090904_db1_20090724_1717_345 swallow flying over meadow (web crop)(r+mb id@576).jpg
Image Taken on 25 Aug 2008
at 15:33 Image of day on 10 Sep 2008
A single Swallow flew over jinking about obviously hunting insects.
We nearly missed that in two consecutive images it was flying straight towards an
insect visible in both frames. The next frame the insect had gone.
Here is an impression of the event.
(r+mb id@576).jpg)
Ref: 20080910_dc1_20080825_1533_056+057 swallow flying towards insect (montage)(r+mb id@576).jpg
Image Taken on 20 Aug 2025
at 09:36 Image of day on 10 Oct 2025
Another sighting of a few Swallows, this time over the harvested field to the south.
Lovely to watch but hard to photograph.
With no static reference we choose the spacing for effect.
(r+mb id@768).jpg)
Ref: 20251010_r70_20250820_0936_077-080 swallow hunting outside south hedge 1-4 of 4 (impression montage @8fps)(r+mb id@768).jpg
Image Taken on 14 Jun 2008
at 13:02 Image of day on 25 Jun 2008
.jpg)
Ref: 20080625_dc1_20080614_1302_215 swallow in flight(r+mb id@576).jpg
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