Yesterday I was able to take the Violet-green Swallow photos that I have been dreaming of since I first moved to Utah in 2009. I’ve seen and taken photos of Violet-green Swallows before and as recently as last week but they were always from a long distance and I was never happy with the resulting images.
Click the first photo in each of the groups to view the images larger.
Violet-green Swallows Interacting
It was the calls of Violet-green Swallows that drew my eyes to where two of them were interacting near a nesting cavity. One of the birds in these photos is a male and the other is a female. I believe that the female was sending a message to the male that the nesting cavity was hers. After looking through my images she appeared to be the aggressor in this altercation. Their interactions were interesting to see and photograph and it all happened very quickly.
The third photo in this group of images shows the green and violet colors that gives this species its common name well.
Male Violet-green Swallow Photos
After the scuffling and tussling between the female and the male near the opening of the nesting cavity I focused on photographing the male or males that were guarding the nesting cavity. When other swallows flew in the male would take off and chase them away from the opening in the trunk of the tree.
Violet-green Swallow male watching over a nesting cavity
Female Violet-green Swallow Photos
Female Violet-green Swallows are duller than the males. I was able to photograph this female as she guarded the entrance to the nesting cavity.
The nesting cavity was high in a tree and the lighting conditions were a challenge.
More male Violet-green Swallow Photos
When the female Violet-green Swallow flew off I focused on the more males that were near the nesting cavity and close to where I sat in a mobile blind photographing them. My Nikon D500 decided to have a fit about this time of the morning so some of these last 4 images were taken with it and some were taken with my Nikon D810 with the 500mm VR lens attached.
About that time the action stopped and the swallows got quiet. Being in the right place at the right time gave me the opportunity to take these Violet-green Swallow photos.
Life is good.
Mia
Click here to see more of my Violet-green Swallow photos plus facts and information about this species.
Lovely photos – pesky camera problem! I’ve never seen this species before, so this was super-special!
Beautiful birds. Have never seen one. Thanks for sharing your wonderful capture.
What an absolutely riveting series of swallow pics. Your patience and perseverance certainly paid off. Thanks Mia.
Wonderful photos Mia!
Thanks for this treat!
Gorgeous photos. Gorgeous birds. You do such amazing work.
WOW.
Seeing, and capturing these beauties makes for a red letter (green violet letter) day.
Oh honey this is so wonderful a set of photo’s I love all of them! I have never seen them with green! Great shooting!
“Being in the right place at the right time” boy isn’t that the truth!
They are a beautiful bird, the photos are wonderful. I hope they stay so you can photograph them again. I saw a few at Little Dell with the Tree Swallows, but they were not close and mostly in flight around the lake edge and box-elder trees.
What a splendid series of photos, showing the action in crisp detail and showcasing the namesake colors.
Wow, what a gorgeous series of photos. These swallows are so beautiful.
This is such a beautiful species. Your photos illustrate the struggle that cavity nesters have in finding a nesting cavity. Swallows, like many cavity nesters, are ill-equipped to excavate a cavity and cavities are a very limited but essential resource. They are so dependent on “excavators”.