06/03/2025
Open Wide, Swallow
I forgot my bug repellent on a recent visit to Bolton Flats, and the mosquitoes were out in force. Unlucky for me, but a banquet for several tree swallows feeding over the fields. It's hard enough to track these birds in flight with your eye, as they fly fast and make sudden, acrobatic turns to snag a snack mid-air. It's even harder to track them through the narrow view of a camera lens, and I came away with mostly missed shots.
But this one shot made all of the misses and bug bites worth it. I was lucky to catch this male tree swallow as he prepares to gulp down a flying insect. I was tracking the fast-moving bird and my shutter speed was slower than it should have been, so the insect ends up appearing as a small streak, which I ended up liking since it give a sense of the speed and points right toward the swallow's open mouth.
