Tree Swallow near Modoc Creek, Targhee National Forest, Clark County, IdahoTree Swallow near Modoc Creek – Nikon D810, f6.3, 1/160, ISO 800, Nikkor 500mm VR with 1.4x TC, natural light

Tree Swallow nesting season is in high gear in the areas I have been camping at in Idaho and Montana. There is plenty of squabbling going on near nesting cavities, both natural and at man made nesting boxes. The males seem happy to stake out a nesting cavity and make all kinds of noises while they do. They can be quite vocal!

I’ve been using my eyes a lot this trip trying to locate active, natural nesting cavities and I have found a few but while I observed them they weren’t busy with activity. I did visit an older nesting cavity tree I know about and found some Tree Swallows busy at the cavity but there were clouds overhead so the light was low and I wasn’t getting much shutter speed so I took more soft images than usual even though I bumped my ISO up to 800. I liked this image of a Tree Swallow near Modoc Creek because of the eye contact, head turn, colors and the pattern of the conifer needles in the background.

Life is good.

Mia

Click here to see more of my Tree Swallow photos plus facts and information about this species.