Adult Cliff Swallow – Nikon D500, f7.1, 1/2000, ISO 500, Nikkor 500mm VR with 1.4x TC, natural light
I was going to do a long post about Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge this morning and I had selected and opened 7 images in Photoshop that I wanted to process for the post but Photoshop crashed as I began to edit the first image. I didn’t have time to go back, locate the files, open all the images again, process them, tag, title, and upload them so I decided to share just one photo instead.
When I opened this adult Cliff Swallow image on my computer at home the first thought I had was that it looked like the Cliff Swallow was surfing on a phragmites “wave”. Then I thought about surfing and hangin’ ten which is when a surfer curls all ten toes over the front of a surf board while surfing but this is a perching bird that doesn’t have ten toes… so then I had to wonder is the Cliff Swallow hangin’ six or eight on the phragmites “wave”? Cliff Swallows have three forward pointing toes and one backward pointing toe per foot and only the 6 forward pointing toes are curled over the front of the phragmites wave… so I would have to say Hangin’ Six.
I had to laugh at the path my brain took when I viewed this Cliff Swallow photo. And by the way the Cliff Swallow was actually preening in a light breeze and it was trying to regain its balance on the phragmites after giving its feathers a good shake.
Life is good.
Mia
Click here to see more of my Cliff Swallow photos plus facts and information about this species.
This is a beaut shot Mia and your surfer analogy made me smile.
Love the little surfer. And you no more surf his wave than the wetter variety.
I like the composition. As I sit out on our patio in St George I am watching 2 types of swallows, I am trying to identify them. Our new house has marks from nests, I hope they will build again, I won’t remove them as I am sure that is what was done for the showing by realtors.
Active imagination-I like it! Nice capture!
Cool composition! Totally surfer dude!
Once you started the surfing analogy, my mind immediately went to “hangin’ six.” 🙂 He definitely has the surfer pose! Coincidentally, I ran into the owner of one of the local surf shops yesterday.
I love this “Hangin’ Six” photo. Great capture.