Today I wanted to share swallow photos that show the six species of swallows I see and photograph in northern Utah while they are here for their nesting season.
Last week before the smoke started to darken the skies in northern Utah I had a few seconds to photograph an adult Cliff Swallow next to a steep mountain road.
Yesterday morning I photographed Cliff Swallows gathering nesting materials and fighting in bright morning light high in the Wasatch Mountains.
I was able to focus on a nearby adult Cliff Swallow as it warmed up on the dirt auto tour loop road and take a nice series of images of it in the soft light.
I was glad to be able to photograph Bank, Barn, Cliff and Tree Swallows perched on top of a stand of phragmites near the auto tour route on the refuge in early morning light.
The soft, early morning light was beautiful when I took these juvenile Cliff Swallow images and I am pleased with how the photos came out.
May is a time of renewal at Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge and as the marsh begins to green up the migrant birds return and along with the year round residents their songs and calls can be heard over the wetlands.
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".
That one midge I saw in the restroom at Bear River MBR did cause me to wonder if the swallows will show up early this year in northern Utah or will the predicted cooler weather cause them arrive at their normal time.
This Cliff Swallow resting near the Red Rock River was cooperative and gave me the opportunity to photograph it on a strand of barbed wire fencing.
More of the swallows will migrate to the refuge very soon and the Cliff Swallow nesting season will start.
The Cliff Swallows at Bear River National Wildlife Refuge are busy catching bugs and building nests but they do take time out to preen and fluff like this one did yesterday.
Yesterday at East Canyon State Park in Morgan County I was able to photograph nesting Cliff Swallows on a cliff face that overlooks the reservoir.
The snow has melted in the Salt Lake Valley where temps have been unseasonably warm thanks to the "Pineapple Express" and although winter hasn't left it has begun to feel like spring which means it won't be long before spring has sprung up all over Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge!
Cliff Swallows catch and eat flying insects of many species the wing so I adore them because they eat mosquitoes, an insect that I personally despise!
This is the time of the year that "midges" are as thick as flies on you-know-what at the Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge.
Spring seduces me. Refreshes me. It whispers to me softly to come outside and savor nature and wildlife.