wild by nature
Speedy Swallows
How an unconventional lens choice helped capture fast-moving
LÀ`Ãy}
Ì
Text & Photography By Melissa GrooA
mong the most challenging of
birds to photograph in flight are
the various swallow species, such
as barn swallows, cliff swallows and tree
swallows. These birds seem to live most
of their lives on the wing, barely stopping
to rest. This is because they’re “aerial
insectivores,” the term for insect-eating
birds and bats that forage while flying.
Many times, I’ve attempted to freeze
them in flight without success.
On summer vacation in AssateagueIsland National Seashore in Maryland, I
stumbled on a particularly good oppor-
tunity to photograph barn swallows in
flight. Although this species probably
once nested primarily in caves and on
cliffs, they now tend to use manmade
structures, placing their nests under the
eaves of rooflines, porches and doorways.
One day at the beach with my family, I
discovered that several pairs of swallows
were nesting in a very busy place: under
the overhang of the public bathrooms.I avoid photographing nesting birds
unless I can be sure my presence isn’t a
disturbance, and here I seemed to have
found the perfect situation. The birds
were swooping down over the heads of
the constant parade of people going in
and out of doorways next to their nests
and were obviously very used to the traf-
fic. Now I just had to figure out how to
shoot these speedsters as they returned to
their nests every few minutes with beaks
full of insects for their chicks who were24 Outdoor Photographer outdoorphotographer.com