View allAll Photos Tagged swift
This is the second time in 2020 that I have observed mating swifts over the Somerset skies. The prolonged good weather and visibility has been a great help.
Decided to try the 100-400GM today -- it's a little faster, and should be faster focusing as well.
Definitely the clearest photo so far of a Swift. But there is a distressing resemblance to a fish - possibly a salmon.
Up in Vail this weekend and caught a shot of the swift waters running down into Gore Creek from The Mountains of Vail. ENJOY! www.matthewmcewanphoto.com
Swift over Chasewater dam, Staffordshire. Very much a lucky shot but one I have been attempting for a long time.
Swift Crab Spider (Mecaphesa celer), immature female. Found on Spiraea nipponica in my front yard. Arvada, Jefferson Co., Colo.
had a bit of fun with the swifts had plenty of sharp ones but these had some light on them as the sun dropped under the thick cloud
On a hazy day back when RoadRailer trains were a thing, solo UP6754 (GE C44AC) rolls around Tehachapi Loop with 37 Swift RoadRailer units in September 2000.
(00.063.03_UP6754_SwiftRRailerWt)
A juvenile Common Swift (Gierzwaluw, Apus apus) took the wrong exit out of it's nest and landed on my attic. A short rest outside and it was gone on the wing.
Some swifts have definitely managed to find a way into our eaves, just behind the gutter. It is impressive how they manage to squeeze through such a tiny gap.
D500_88165.NEF
Without you, there is no time
The bee acquires the stillness of a stone
And nature's frantic flap assumes a stationary stance.
Colour fades and life is held as though in heavy glass
The swift, suspended inches from her nest
Will there remain 'til after you return.
for my Elastigirl
I love Swifts almost as much as the Swallows Etc,but trying to get the exposure right i find can be very difficult.
Yesterday morning our local Swifts were flying over the garden so I went out with my camera for some target practice. This wasn't my best photo of the session, but a Swift feeding is something I've been trying to photograph for ages. They fly around catching flying insects which they store in their crop to take back to the nest. They can catch up to a thousand insects before returning to feed the chicks. David Lack who studied Swifts nesting in a tower at Oxford University counted 312 different species of insect and spider in these bug balls, and found that typically they contain 3-500 insects. Because winged insect food is so variable and unpredictable the youngsters can go into a kind of torpor, dropping their body temperature and arresting their development, then resuming to normal development when the insects start to reappear. They probably hunt at about 25 mph but even at this speed they can differentiate between insects. One swift was found to have caught several stingless drone honeybees but neatly avoided all of the stinging females. It is thought that each Swift may catch 10,000 insects in a day, which makes it surprising that this is the first time I have managed to photograph one feeding.