Bank Swallows on PEI

[Stephen Stephen]

Two weeks ago we spent part of our vacation on beautiful Prince Edward Island. The first day I found a colony of bank swallows (new to my life list) nesting in a red sand bank on the shore by our cottage. Shooting was difficult because the birds were very fast and the colony was in part sun and part shade.

I visited the colony several times over the week and saw some interesting behaviour. As in some other bird species the adults would return home with food and then remove the youngs' white fecal pellets from the burrow and drop them away from the nest, usually over the sea.

Later in the week I watched as several adults would hover in front of the burrow holes trying to encourage the young to try to fly. I actually saw one of the these triplets fly but didn't get a shot of his first takeoff.

I hope that you enjoy this series.

[Stephen Stephen]

Two more shots for the series.

All shots were taken with the Bigma (Sigma 50-500mm) and fill flash.

[canondslruser]

Nice shots and I like that red sand background too. Did you spend most of your time on PEI? See many birds while there?

[Anthony J Howe]

Like this series of shots Stephen immensely. The story is good to explain the behaviour of the Swallows and how they feed the young ones and make sure the nests stays clean, love the red sand background. Nice ones, well done.

[Sindri Skulason]

Excellent series. The last one is my favorite. Good work. :-)

[cfcRebel]

Awesome photo documentation of the bank swallow Stephen. It must be quite an experience to witness these. Thanks for sharing.

[dewmuw]

Lovely set of images there Stephen. Sadly the UK species (sand martins) are in decline due to loss of habitat.

[Phreddie]

A great set of images - superb!

[Dimitri_V]

Wow Stephen,that 2nd shot is a brilliant capture.
I suppose if you spend some time with your subject,you do get to be rewarded in the end.
Well done.

[Wayne Wood]

nicely done Stephen ,,, glad to see you posting again seems like it's been awhile ,,, hope to see you out in the field soon

[Stephen Stephen]

Nice shots and I like that red sand background too. Did you spend most of your time on PEI? See many birds while there?

Thanks DRLS. We spent a week on the Island. I saw several birds species including Bald Eagles, Great Bluw Herons, Double Crested Cormorants, Kittwakes, Savannah Sparrows, Ospreys three Gannets and a Pied Billed Grebe. The Grebe and the bank swallows were new additionas to my life list.

Like this series of shots Stephen immensely. The story is good to explain the behaviour of the Swallows and how they feed the young ones and make sure the nests stays clean, love the red sand background. Nice ones, well done

Thank you for taking the time to comment Tony.

Excellent series. The last one is my favorite. Good work. :smile:

Sindri your kind words are always appreciated.

Awesome photo documentation of the bank swallow Stephen. It must be quite an experience to witness these. Thanks for sharing.

Thanks Fee. Yes, it was fantastic to observe their behaviour.

Lovely set of images there Stephen. Sadly the UK species (sand martins) are in decline due to loss of habitat.

Thank you Damian. I was very pleased to be able to see these delightful birds.

A great set of images - superb!

Thank you for taking the time to comment Phreddie.

Wow Stephen,that 2nd shot is a brilliant capture.
I suppose if you spend some time with your subject,you do get to be rewarded in the end. Well done.

Thanks Dimitri. I was able to spend about 20-30 minutes 3 times during our week at the cottage.

nicely done Stephen ,,, glad to see you posting again seems like it's been awhile ,,, hope to see you out in the field soon

Thanks Wayne. Yes it's good to be back and it has been quite some time since I've been able to post anything. I do have some shots that I'll try and post over the next week or so.

[Frank_Hollahan]

Wow! Amazing and exciting series with nice sharp results, I really like the in-flight shots, very nice captures

[Gary Fairhead]

Nice series here Stephen with the second and last images working for me. Nice and different environment with the red sand.

[Stephen Stephen]

Frank and Gary thank you for taking the time to comment. Frank, I took many the flight shots but getting reasonable ones was difficult because of the birds' speed when entering or existing the burrows as well as trying to find the right Depth of Field.

Gary I know that you Dan, Marc Ted and Wayne would have loved to opportunity to have seen, and potographed, these birds but looking over your latest posts I can still tell that you were all busy while I was away.

[Reigh Higgins]

Very nice Stephen. The second is my favorite. Thanks for sharing.

[bromm]

Great series Stephen. Glad you enjoyed your vacation here on PEI. Glad you took a couple off your life list. The Eagles and Osprey have really grown in numbers in recent years, 20 years ago you had a hard time to find an eagle here. well done. those little swallows are like jets..

[Stephen Stephen]

Thanks for commenting Reigh.

Great series Stephen. Glad you enjoyed your vacation here on PEI. Glad you took a couple off your life list. The Eagles and Osprey have really grown in numbers in recent years, 20 years ago you had a hard time to find an eagle here. well done. those little swallows are like jets..

Trevor I always enjoy my visits to the Island. I saw some terns roosting on the foundations of the old bridge in Charlottetown but never had time to get any shots. I'll definitely have to get some the next summer that I'm down your way.

[dancad]

Those are cool nests they build on these banks. The last one is very cute...peeking out into the dangerous world waiting outside.