My most exciting experience with swallows..... :D

The past Easter weekend, it was rainy, windy and cold here in Austin, Texas. I have decided to head out anyway. I'm glad i did because it turned out to be one of my best birding days.
I saw some swallows started hovering in the sky. Normally they come back from the south in late spring as the temperature starts to rise but then we had this record-breaking cold front from the artic north this past weekend. So, these swallows just landed in group on the pavement road. I drove really slow hoping they would take off as my vehicle approaching. They were right below my front bumper and I couldn't see them. I didn't want to risk running over them so i drove to the shoulder of the road to bypass them. I could see still see them from the car window as i passed them. I took some photos but the pavement makes horrible surrounding. Then something came to my mind. I parked the car right next to these swallows, opened my car door, placed my camera+lens on the driver seat to get lower angle. Nope, didn't work. Entire frame was still bright and the swallow was dark. I said to myself, what the heck, just step out the car, lay down on my belly, lens hood touching the pavement in order to get some green bg in the frame.

These turned out to be Barn Swallows. Hope you like the images. They are uncropped. Only pp'ed and resized for web. C/C welcome.

Is it me or do these swallows look similar to penguins?

You can still see the rain.
500mm, f7.1, 1/200s, ISO400, EC-0.33, Flash on, 12mm extension tube.

Wow! The extension tube worked really well to fill up the frame like that---great shots!

Sweet pictures, they do look like little penguins!

Wow...fantastic shots. It certainly paid off getting down and dirty. These are outstanding low angle shots and the bokeh is simply perfect. All shots are super sharp with excellent details. Brilliant work as always Fee.

Wonderful shots Fee. Too bad you didn't have a cup of meal worms, they probably could have used a snack. There are reports of early arrivals up here starving to death.

Excellent series here Fee and nice technique to get the images you want. Well worth the effort as they turned out beautifully with that wonderful BG.

Outstanding captures with beautiful colors. But what I really liked about these is the timing, the low angle perspective, and the creamy bokeh, and the water droplets on the feathers are surely a bonus. Very well done Fee.

Very nice Fee, as said above the low angle really makes these shots stand out, great color and detail. very well done.

Love the rain drops in #5 - all very good shots.

Great shots Rebel, love to get a close shot of a swallow over here.

Spectacular. You must be very pleased with them.

Very well shot, but sad. I hope you get warmer weather soon or these birds will probably die without the flying insects they need.

JimLittle wrote in post #3010180
Wow! The extension tube worked really well to fill up the frame like that---great shots!

Thanks Jim. They were too close and Bigma couldn't focus. So i slapped the 12mm tube on it to cut down the minimum focus distance. Tubes sure come in handy when you need them.

Linuxboy00 wrote in post #3010243
Sweet pictures, they do look like little penguins!

Thanks Jamie. I didn't notice that until i started pp'ing. They look like little penguins with a thick fur coat, a nice collared shirt with a bow tie. hehehe.....

Sindri Skulason wrote in post #3010367
Wow...fantastic shots. It certainly paid off getting down and dirty. These are outstanding low angle shots and the bokeh is simply perfect. All shots are super sharp with excellent details. Brilliant work as always Fee.

Thanks Sindri. Really appreciate the kind words. It's always nice to get feedback from another Bigma user.

canonloader wrote in post #3010405
Wonderful shots Fee. Too bad you didn't have a cup of meal worms, they probably could have used a snack. There are reports of early arrivals up here starving to death.

Thanks Mitch. I wish i could help them in any way but couldn't think of one without interupting nature's course. I think they are able to survive. I sure hope so.

Gary Fairhead wrote in post #3010433
Excellent series here Fee and nice technique to get the images you want. Well worth the effort as they turned out beautifully with that wonderful BG.

Thanks gary. They were in the middle of the road and i didn't know what to do. When i finally decided to lay on my belly to try a different perspective, i was worried another car would come by and ran over, not only myself, but the birds too. Luckily it was a bad weather Easter weekend. Not many birders came to the place. Otherwise i won't be here typing this message. lol

Reyno wrote in post #3010482
Outstanding captures with beautiful colors. But what I really liked about these is the timing, the low angle perspective, and the creamy bokeh, and the water droplets on the feathers are surely a bonus. Very well done Fee.

Thanks Reyno. Your comment is very motivating. Glad to know people actually enjoy seeing my bird photos, especially great bird photo like yourself.

bromm wrote in post #3010711
Very nice Fee, as said above the low angle really makes these shots stand out, great color and detail. very well done.

Thanks Trevor. I'm glad there was some grass on both sides of the road that i could use as green bg. Luckily nobody mowed the lawn that day.

Accentor wrote in post #3011320
Love the rain drops in #5 - all very good shots.

Thanks Accentor. The rain sure adds some effect in the photos. I will serve as a good reminder of what the weather was like when the photos were taken.

Adi7r wrote in post #3011341
Great shots Rebel, love to get a close shot of a swallow over here.

Thanks Adi. I would love to photograph any swallow species in Europe. I bet they are just as beautiful.

Booswalia wrote in post #3011418
Spectacular. You must be very pleased with them.

Thanks Shirley. These are my best swallow photos so far. Before this, i only have some regular swallow photos. I'm quite happy with these.

eccles wrote in post #3011434
Very well shot, but sad. I hope you get warmer weather soon or these birds will probably die without the flying insects they need.

Thanks eccles. I think they should be able to make it. When i was ready to leave (3 or 4 pm) the temperature started to rise. A lot of flies and bugs flew into my car. Well, bad for my car but good for the swallows.

Fee, as everyone else has said, these are fine photos. Those tubes seem to come in handy for you quite often. I may need to look into getting some! Very nice work here.

Fee those are awesome ,,, Incredibly sharp and I love the green BG ,,, exceptional quality here bud