Feed Me!!!

[Loupey]

Found 3 barn swallows yesterday perching on a low railing of walkway over a marsh. I've rarely seen them perching away from their nest so I did my best to get as close as possible. I soon realized that these were juveniles waiting for their parents.

I took up position and watched with delight for about an hour and a half. Here's what I got.

Sorry if the post processing looks a little odd. I was forced to switch laptops last week (old one died) and the Vista OS and the uncalibrated screen is driving me crazy.

I felt honored to be able to witness this when I did (only one person came by during the entire shooting - and she was a birder so she was very quiet). I got too close a few times and the babies didn't know any better to fly away. But the parent would come and make one short squeal and everything would take off. A few moments later, they would return. Turns out their "private space" was only about 5'.

thanks for looking.

[julsoph]

Loupey, those are great! I love the last one especially.

[Yarrow]

Cool shots Loupey!

[Knight]

These guys are still mooching off their Parents eh ! Good Captures Loupey

[Canon_Bob]

Great shots as usual Loupey! I like number two the best. It's just crying out for a caption of "Hey, what about ME?". Good stuff!

[mn shutterbug]

Them are some winners. Nice shots, all.

Emily, I like your new avatar.

[Loupey]

Thanks for looking. I had a blast watching and photographing them. They would just sit there and watch the birds flying overhead. As one would swoop down, they would get a little excited. But when it was their parents approaching, they would all start trashing around violently. It gave me about second and a half of notice to get the camera ready and trained on one juvie (hopefully the right one ). Sometimes the parents wouldn't come back for 5 to 7 minutes so I couldn't keep the camera to my eye as long as would have liked.

Anyway, here is the shot I was stalking to get before I realized that they were juveniles not yet afraid of people.

[scott-devon]

Wow, great series Loupey. The final one in the feeding series is superb as is the single one you were stalking.

[mjs1973]

Great timing Loupey!!

[paulnj]

neat series, but that last one is the keeper in the bunch for sure.