Tree Swallow ... Tachycineta bicolor

This is a Tree Swallow or Tachycineta bicolor. I took over a thousand shots of these birds yesterday. One became so used to me that when it perched on a wire above me, I could actually stroke the tip of its tail and it would only move over a little on the wire! This was a full length shot, but I cropped it because I wanted you to see the feather detail. It is not an easy bird to photograph in direct sunlight. That metallic sheen of the bird ... reminiscent of a blue satin dress of a lady ... plays havoc with exposure. I did shoot some in the shade in the evening, but I haven't taken them off the memory card yet. It has a totally different look then.

 

Having taken so many shots of these birds, I'm pretty sure you may see one or two more in the future. :-) There's at least one detailed one, I'd really like you to see. Until I photographed them, I never realized some birds have eyelashes. Seriously! At least, that's certainly what they look like. They are so long that, if Penelope Cruz had them, she wouldn't need her Telescopic mascara from L'Oréal ... or, as some of the stories claim, use false ones to exaggerate the length of extension produced by the product. :-) These birds catch their prey on the wing ... some of it, anyway ... flying very fast while making quick changes in direction ... so maybe those 'lashes' are for protection. I did notice that a parachute seed from a dandelion got caught in the 'lashes' of one bird for a second or two and it had to shake it's head to get rid of it. I was so intent on looking at this, that I never got it on camera, though.

 

Done