View allAll Photos Tagged Swift
During Swift Response 2023 exercise I was able to attend some practices at Bardenas Reales shooting range in Spain by USAF A10s. No real fire (not even BRRRRRRRT, because of the ammunition) but great flying demos, some of them for the media. A great day!
The cargo ship INDUSTRIAL SWIFT alongside in the port of Saint-Nazaire to load MAN motors. In the bottom right the liner MSC BELLISSIMA.
Le cargo INDUSTRIAL SWIFT à quai dans le port de Saint-Nazaire pour charger des moteurs MAN. Dans le fond à droite le paquebot MSC BELLISSIMA.
IMO: 9741152
MMSI: 636017393
Call Sign: D5KR7
Flag: Liberia [LR]
AIS Vessel Type: Cargo
Gross Tonnage: 11619
Deadweight: 12337 t
Length Overall x Breadth Extreme: 147m × 23m
Year Built: 2017
Status: Active
Pu'er, Yunnan, China
see comments for additional image (another individual, not necessarily the same species)...
The name Swift is highly appropriate as they hold the record for level flight speed under their own power (69.3 miles per hour). But this was during a turbo-charged screaming flight, whereas the usual flight speed was 22-26 mph. Other birds like Peregrine Falcons can reach much greater speeds but only when freefalling using the power of gravity. They fly around with their beaks open catching insects which they store in a ball to bring back to their youngsters in the nest. Analysis of just 12 food balls revealed more than 300 species of insect and spider. It is thought that each Swift may catch 10,000 insects in a day, which is more (numerically) than any other British bird.
The other interesting thing about Swifts is that once they leave their nest, their feet won't touch the ground for two or three years until they nest themselves. By this time the young Swift will have made two or three return journeys to sub-Saharan Africa. They eat, drink, sleep and even mate on the wing, only landing when they nest. The oldest known Swift was ringed as a nestling in Switzerland and was caught back there 21 years later, by which time it was estimated to have flown perhaps 3 million miles.
The scientific name Apus apus comes from the Greek " a pous" meaning without foot. Swift legs are so small that it was once believed that they did not have any feet. If a Swift gets grounded it cannot spring back into the air like all other birds with normal sized legs. Several times I have found grounded Swifts and have saved their lives by launching them back into the air. An immensely satisfying thing to do. I think you can just about see some of its tiny toes emerging from the plumage. And speaking of Swift toes, they have four toes pointing forwards which is known as pamprodactylous. Most birds have three toes forwards and a hind toe pointing back.
I photographed this newly arrived individual in Yorkshire at the weekend using 1/2000 exposure.
This immature Swift has been banging on the nest box to try to displace the resident adults. Shown here, it bumps its head, rights itself, flies away and returns for another go...
I had taken the 135mm f/1.8 lens with me to try to get photos of swallows feeding inside the barn. That allowed ridiculously fast shutter speed, but the crop was severe. Upscaled with Topaz Gigapixel.
It is swift fox time on the Colorado short-grass prairie. The swift fox is such a playful, tiny predator still found in small numbers on the great plains. It is always such a thrill to come across a family at their den.
The Swift Motor Company made Swift Cars in Coventry from 1900 until 1931. It grew progressively from James Starley's Coventry Sewing Machine Company, via bicycle and motorised cycle manufacture. This 1927 Swift, SF 7805, is seen at a lunchtime gathering at The Old Bull Inn, Inkberrow, on 23rd May 2021.
I spotted this swift fox while driving home, luckily still had my camera out and was able to get a couple shots before it headed off. D5 + 500mm at 1/2000 f/4 ISO 9,000.
See more: www.alexbeckerphotography.com
Swift Parrot feeding in a flowering Yellow Gum at the base of Mt Ainslie in Canberra. A small flock of these endangered migratory parrots spent a few weeks in Canberra recently.
Streptoprocne biscutata
A very large Swift; new to me and present in huge numbers especially on this morning. There was a constant stream passing for long periods of time, numbering many thousands of birds.
"These beautiful days ... do not exist as mere pictures - maps hung upon the walls of memory to brighten at times when touched by association or will ... They saturate themselves into every part of the body and live always." ~John Muir (today, April 21st, was Muir's birthday)
Sunset at Swiftcurrent Lake, Glacier National Park.
Though brief, my visit to Glacier has stuck with me. Every place I've traveled to leaves a trace of itself with me, a feeling that I can remember and enjoy years later. Certain places imprint more strongly than others, leaving a feeling of enchantment over a mere memory. My time in Many Glacier is one of those memories. I have a feeling I'm not the only one left spellbound by its beauty.
Btw, it is exactly two weeks until we leave for the Faroe Islands. I have no idea how it came so fast, but I am beyond excited!
Flower Swift | Polytremis pellucida | Hesperiidae
Samsung NX1 & Helios 44M - 58mm f/2
10mm Macro Tube | f/4 | Manual Focus | Available Light | Handheld
Kunming | Yunnan Province | China
All Rights Reserved. © Nick Cowling 2017.
Swift Creek is a tributary of the Suwannee River near White Springs, FL. Its namesake is apparent to anyone who visits it, as its water frequently races down a deep (for Florida) limestone gorge into the Suwannee. I had visited this one less than a month before this shot when the water was much higher and the light was poor. I anticipated being able to photograph this one in a long exposure racing through its channel. What I didn't anticipate were the rapids that were revealed at low water in this creek, numerous ones in the last 100 yards before its confluence with the Suwannee and even more upstream. I even found a small spring flowing through the karst, pictures of which I will share later.
Photographed at El Mojon Spain
The Swift have returned again this year to their nesting areas underneath a roof slab in a partly constructed building in El Mojon, I have seen them at this location for the last three years, they are normally seen nesting there from mid June to early August. They are for sure difficult birds to photograph in flight, they fly so fast and are so unpredictable in flight.
I've had a few attempts at photographing swifts recently - none of my efforts are completely wonderful, but at least I got this one in the frame! D500_90222.NEF
It took a lot of shots to get one worth posting! These birds are FAST! Did you know their feet and legs are so tiny they can barely walk but in the air they are incredible.
Last week I was able to band three young Swifts in a nestbox. For me it was the fist time to handhold a nearly fledging Swift. Although it's fully grown it takes at least two weeks before they leave the nestbox for the first time as they first have to loose weight and built confidence to make the jump (of 6 meters...)
D200 Tamron 90mm macro, full frame
The light was very low so I tried panning with the Swifts at Startops today. While the light was terrible, the birds were stunning. The reservoir was packed solid with swift and hirundine at all heights. It is amazing when they wiz past you and you can feel the air they move. The light made this one look very brown.
During Swift Response 2023 exercise I was able to attend some practices at Bardenas Reales shooting range in Spain by USAF A10s. No real fire (not even BRRRRRRRT, because of the ammunition) but great flying demos, some of them for the media. A great day!
Swift Creek in Hamilton County is one of the Suwannee's more interesting tributaries. With a fast flow it lives up to its name.
Dublin Bus City Swift Liveried Volvo Olympian RV628 is seen on loan to Bus Eireann in August 2000 in Ashbourne County Meath on a 103 service
A view of Swift River, off the Kancamagus Highway, NH.
Boring tech note: The light was extraordinary, but some exposures were hard to compensate (i.e. shooting from deep shade into brightly lit foliage, etc.) so I spent most of the day shooting with a Tiffen Circular Polarizing Filter. I have found that it preserves the blue of the sky without compromising the vivid reds and yellows, and it prevents a lot of sky 'whiteouts' when shots include deep shadow and bright sky.
These Common Swifts are always on the wing and amazingly fast flyers, very unpredictable too, while they catch insects 24/7
These birds never land, unless they return to their nest (holes, nest boxes)
An endless exercise in frustration to try to get the AF to lock on properly: too small, too fast (speeds of over 200km/h have been measured) and often too far away - they usually fly at 50m or higher. The dark plumage also means getting any sort of detail is a definite challenge.
This is therefore without a doubt the hardest native bird to capture in flight, despite having become relatively abundant here due to a successful campaign to have them settle in nestboxes all over Groningen. They stay only briefly, from late April to the end of July
Dutch: Gierzwaluw (Apus Apus)
Ondanks de naam GEEN familie van de zwaluw (NOCH van de gier LOL)