The Snags - Quality Condo Living For Tree Swallows

Happened onto this tree today.

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Looks like a good spot for them. Good shots!

Thanks Allen. Yes, a good spot, but the light was just weird today. Maybe some flash tomorrow.

Great shots, love pics#1 and #2,great colours and very sharp. Nice to have the extra reach of the bigma for shots like these.

Nice shots Mitc..Looks like they are taking up residence Always nice to see although some tougher bird may come along in the next weeks and evict them...Saw this last year when a pair of Great Crested Flycatchers kicked out some Tree swallows from their nest and took over.

Great Series of a hard to catch bird Mitch

Well done

Man--everybody is getting these swallows but me! Whaaaaa! Nice shots, Mitch.
Karen

Thanks Downy, Gary and Gary. This is a snag, an old dead tree right by the waters edge. In fact, it's so dead, I saw it swaying in the high winds yesterday while the live trees next to it were solid, so I fear it's not going to last too many more years. But it has holes like the one seen above, on all sides at the top ten feet or so.

I didn't see any other swallows actually use the other holes, but there were several others around, and at times landing on that broken top. Maybe I caught these in the first days of nesting and the other haven't started yet. I'll just have to keep an eye on it over the next few weeks. I wouldn't mind seeing a Flycatcher using one of the holes.

Karen, look around for a dead tree near water with woodpecker holes in it. I think that is a popular nesting site for these guys. I'll be looking at some others I know about, now that I've seen this.

Very nice shots indeed.

Thanks Sindri. I just realized this is another lifer for me.

Nice series. 2nd shot is my favourite. Captured a neat look there. Gary mentioned it's a hard to photograph bird- any thought on why?

Thanks Alan. I find a few birds almost impossible to get a good shot of. Birds with shiney feathers are the hardest, these swallows, grackels, red wing black birds, the heads of mallards. This is just a theory, but I think it's because they reflect most or all of the UV light that hits them and messes with the camera sensor. On cloudy days, the colors come out a lot better.

I've thought many times of using a circular polarizer, but never got around to using one on a bird. And I don't have a UV Filter that fits my lens now. Filters might help, in fact, they should. I just haven't tried them yet. I'd be interested to know what others think.