Squabbling swallows

This hilarious altercation made me laugh! Crazily wide open bills and bill-clamping drama as they fought for their parking rights.

Welcome Swallows  (Hirundo neoxena)
1/800, f/8, ISO 400

Each year KPS camera club challenges its members to create a triptych that tells a story –  there are some seriously creative people in the club.

These squabbling Welcome Swallows were my entry this year; they looked pretty comical during the brief battle that lasted less than one second. The bird on the left was most put out when the second bird landed and perched too closely. It immediately grabbed the imposter’s bill which created the pose in the final image, which is the one I find most amusing. There could be a life lesson somewhere in this series that I hadn’t thought about until now.

Welcome Swallows are about 15cm and 15g, they are one of the most commonly seen species at the Western Treatment Plant. I was taking portrait shots at the time with a slower shutter speed than I’d generally use for action shots, so I feel lucky to have caught the action so sharply.

Earlier this week I heard about the Wild Pollinator Count – it is due to finish on 21 April and sounds like a brilliant idea. All you need to do is take ten minutes to watch flowers in your garden or a local park and record which pollinators arrive. The site gives detailed information and there is no need to be able to identify everything you see. I’m planning to take part and hope that the Blue Banded Bees that visited my garden this summer will make a timely reappearance. For more details please click this link:  Wild Pollinator Count 

Happy birding, and insect watching

Kim

NB If you have a spare moment please call or email your local MP, or write to a newspaper, or support the Coalition Against Duck Shooting to help prevent 100,000s of our native waterbirds being shot – thank you

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