View allAll Photos Tagged swift
This 1913 Swift car is called a cyclecar because it used both car and motorcycle parts. This meant it was lighter and cheaper the bigger cars. This cyclecar, P 9217, is on display in the Coventry Transport Museum.
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)
1927 Swift Tourer.
In 1935 my grandfather bought a 1931 Swift Saloon for thirty two pounds and ten shillings.
Hethersgill Rally at Carlisle Airport
3rd May, 2009.
Thousands of vaux swifts fly around this chimney for about an hour and then all dive in and only happens for about 4 weeks a year!!! Hundreds of people were watching!! Sometimes they made super psychedelic patterns in the sky! Amazing to see! Thousands of birds flying in synchronicity??????!!!!!!!!!!!!! A person about 8 feet away got pooped on........ ;D
Wiki: During fall migration one of the highlights for birders is the large groups of Vaux’s swifts that communally roost in chimneys along their way. This fantastic show that the birds put on may consist of a few birds or many thousands. Agate Hall at the University of Oregon and Chapman School in Portland are two of the largest known sites in the world housing thousands of swifts and drawing many onlookers. Vaux’s swifts are linked with old growth forest and need large hollow snags for nesting. The species is likely declining and migration is a great time to survey the population.
I could sit and watch these birds all day. The only problem is that their daily routine is very variable and it is impossible to predict when they will be flying low over my house like this morning.
It takes a lot of work with Setwings to get them to pose like this. They can be very skittish till they're used to you. And you have to have just-the-right-light. My Georgia yard after a two-day photo session ;-)
Mt Baker Wilderness, Washington
Mid August in the North Cascades: the upper parking lot had been cleared of enough snow to reveal the restrooms but it was like parking in a giant snowbowl. Although quite a few trails were obliterated by the snowpack, the trail to Lake Ann lost enough elevation and received enough direct sun to be open. At the bottom of the switchbacks, spring greenery filled the valley. Erratics littered the glacial meadow hosting Swift Creek, and Mt Baker dominated the skyline, out where the valley dropped off.
This is a two picture HDR rendering in Photomatix. The camera couldn't hold the glare of the peak and the landscape; I also tried a split ND, but blending two exposures made for a better transition.
One of many Swifts from today at Stodmarsh in between the rain showers. The fastest birds in level flight, with an impressive top speed of 69mph
[Apus apus]
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I can't believe I never posted a picture of her with her new eyes and wig =O She still needs a type4 or obitsu, though.
I know, i am obsessed with swifts and swallows LOL LOL.But with there being fewer of them around this year and the crap weather, opportunities have been few and far between.
On another note,is my camera knackered ?.On 1 or 2 of todays pics when looked at on the camera monitor half the pic was ok and the other half was flashing black.Like it was an old negative ?, If i zoomed in a little the flashing black stopped,and the pics have downloaded to my computer ok.This has never happened before today,any ideas anyone ?.Thanks.