Various Swallows

Hello,


I am sharing various swallows we saw while visiting Washington State and some other Swallows seen while on other trips. I have a mix of Tree Swallows, Barn Swallows, Northern Rough-winged Swallows, an awful photo of the Violet-green Swallow, a distant look at Cave Swallows.  I am always working on getting what I think is a great shot of any bird I see. When it comes to a new bird, I will keep what I think is an awful photo just to record the time I actually saw my life bird.


Barn Swallows on their nest under the pier. The Barn Swallows have a steel blue upperpart and a rufous forehead, chin and throat.

Barn Swallow collecting mud for their nest. The building a cup nest from mud pellets.

Two Northern Rough-winged Swallows. These swallows are brown above and white underparts. Their throat is white with a brownish gray wash.

They usually nest near streams, we saw these birds next to the Hoh River in the Olympic National Park.

This swallow photo below  is not my best, I will still have to work on getting a better shot of the Violet-green Swallow. I was able to get an id confirmation with this photo and that is why I am keeping it for now.  This swallow has long pointed wings, has a glossy green color on top of it's head and white cheeks.

Below, a Tree Swallow sky. Swallows are fast flyers and it is very hard for me to get a clear shot and closeup of a moving swallow.

Tree swallow talk. These swallows have a iridescent blueish-green upper part and white underparts.

Below are the Cave Swallows seen as they excited the Carlsbad Caverns in New Mexico. They nest in natural caves. They have grey-blue upperparts and brown-tangerine forefront. It is hard to see their colors in my photo.

Other swallows seen in my area are the Bank Swallow and the Cliff Swallows.

Thank you for stopping by and as always I appreciate your comments.

My list of memes for today, I hope to see you there. Thanks to both of the host below.


Thanks to Michelle for hosting Nature Notes
Thanks to Stewart for hosting Wild Bird Wednesday

Birding Carlsbad, New Mexico

I am linking up with NF Winged   and  Skywatch Friday 

 I think by now everyone knows I went to New Mexico on vacation. One major attraction for hubby was seeing the Carlsbad Caverns and I figured there had to be birds there for me to see. The first day was mainly a travel day and on the second day we visited the Carlsbad Caverns and the national park. I am sharing some birds from the park for my NF Winged entry and I have some sky shots from around the Guadalupe Mountains.

We were up early and on our way to the Carlsbad Cavern National Park when we stopped to watch the sunrise.  

There were many New Mexico birds that were not lifers, like the House Finches above.

The Guadalupe Mountains and the moon seen from the road going into the Carlsbad Caverns National Park.

The Cave Swallows were a lifer.  It was fun watching the Swallows going in and out of the cave.

We hiked into the natural entrance of the caverns, 750 feet down. It was a steep one mile  hike for the Natural Entrance and  took us a little over an hour then we arrived at the BIG room which was another one mile walk.

I was able to watch this American Kestrel while it was watching the Cave Swallows.

For a scenic shot and showing off the pretty blue sky, I am sharing the view of the Cavern hole ( near the left middle of the photo and the seating for the bat flight program. It was cool to experience the bat flight, swarms of bats coming out of the cave.  As more bats poured out of the cave, I could look up in the sky and see the previous swarm of bats. The bats fly around at night eating within 30-50 miles of cave and then return early in the morning. The Cave Swallows wait for them to leave and they go back inside the cave for the night. Photography was not allowed during the bat flight program.

It was cool to watch the moon setting behind the Guadalupe Mountains. I hope you enjoyed my Carlsbad birds and my sky photos. We spent the first three nights in Carlsbad and visited the caverns and park a couple of times.

 Thanks for visiting my post and  blog and I always appreciate your comments.

  Happy Skywatching everyone!

To see more pretty skies from around the world please visit  Skywatch Friday
and to see more of the winged critters check out NF Winged

Thanks to Sylvia, Yogi  and Sandy for hosting Skywatch Friday! Thanks to Monica the host of NF Winged.   I wish everyone a safe and happy weekend.