Wednesday 23 April 2014

Wild Bird Wednesday 93 - Welcome Swallows

I spent a few days down near the coast last week - wonderful location, wonderful weather and no phone reception!

As autumn starts to find its feet here, many birds start to move north for the winter (remember I'm in the southern hemisphere!).  Our summer waders are heading to the far, far north and some birds just move north within Australia.

One bird that leaves parts of Australia at this time of year is the Welcome Swallow (Hirundo neoxena). While the "welcome" part of the name is a reference to the birds arrival in the spring, the area where I live never entirely losses its Swallows in the winter.  A few hang around, hawking for what ever they can find.

As a result, I am more likely to notice the swallows leaving than returning.  Most, if not all, of the birds from Tasmania move north for the winter and if you happen to be on the coast of the mainland of Australia at this time of year you can see them gathering in flocks as the arrive and take a break before moving on.

On the last day of our week away we woke to find over 150 or so Welcome Swallows around the house.  An hour later they we all gone.  I have seen this type of behaviour before - and it makes me think about my own migration!

When the birds were not on the wing they rested on a wire fence behind the house - when they sat there I was reminded of musical notes on staves!  I don't know what tune the swallow notes were writing, but they looked great.  As soon as I saw how the fence looked through the viewfinder of the camera I knew that these images would work well in "panorama" format.

These images really do need to be clicked on so you can see a larger version.





Now its your turn - click on the link below and off you go!

60 comments:

  1. Oh, Swallows are the sweetest little birds - Great shots! "Birds on a Wire". LOL

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  2. Wonderful shots. When they fly are those sixteenth notes or 32nd notes?

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  3. I love Swallows ... yours look a lot like our Barn Swallows. They make nests in our boat lifts here and keep our yards clear of mosquitos. These are really cute pictures, Stewart and I like your musical analogy ... They do sing a pretty song :) Be well, and have a wonderful week.

    Andrea @ From The Sol

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  4. Now you have me humming, but I haven't quite figured out the song yet. Those images are so delightful, and you're right, lightbox is the way to view them.

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  5. I do love your "birds on a wire" and such beautiful birds they are! Great shots for the day, Stewart!! Hope your week is going well!!

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  6. Oh my word! Birds on a wire are SO striking! Glad you had a good weekend. Thanks for hosting this meme which I love joining. My link arrives tomorrow (Wednesday in Africa) Greetings, Jo

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  7. geweldig zo op een rijtje,het staat ook heel gezellig.

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  8. Wonderful photos and and a lovely melody played by birds :)
    Greetings

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  9. I enjoyed your reference to musical notes Stewart. This is a lovely 'musical' piece. Great photos!

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  10. Fabulous pic of such wonderful birds. I've seen a few in my area but they so rarely land!

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  11. Sweet little birds! I haven't seen swallows yet, but they have returned here too.

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  12. Oh, you got some great shots...love them!

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  13. Our Swallows started arriving back a few weeks ago and the House Martins came home last Tuesday. I really like your pictures of the on the wire. From Findlay

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  14. To have them lined up on the fencing like this is precious!!! Gotta love it.

    thanks for visiting today Stewart.

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  15. Beautiful photos! They behave like ours in Norway!

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  16. Very Nice shots
    Beautiful birds

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  17. I love how they all hang out together
    on the line.

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  18. Great shots and a wellcome to the Swallows.

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  19. Lovely shots but it must have been cold, they are so puffed up. No wonder they are moving north. When we had a house cow, we also has over a hundred swallows resident. They would 'graze' the dam as the mosquitos rose from the water.

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  20. They are cute swallows, similar to our Barn Swallows. Great shots! Thanks for hosting, have a happy week ahead!

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  21. Swallows are one of my favorites! These are great photos...I really like the wire perches!

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  22. the swallows are tireless workers aren't they when mud-building their nest - I think they're really sweet. Great photos Stewart and nice to get away and enjoy the beautiful weather we've been having

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  23. Beautiful and you are right panorama is perfect. These swallows are so cute, very social and very funny to watch. We have them up here, perhaps this is where they are headed.

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  24. I like the photos of your little "musical notes"! Interesting about their migration too.

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  25. Fantastic shots, I really like the panorama view.

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  26. oh, these swallows are adorable. and they do look like musical notes on a staff. some great shots. hope all is well.

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  27. Cute! I'm humming, Bird On The Wire.

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  28. Ah... I can just imagine the melodies of the choir on the wire. Lovely pictures. Thanks for hosting. ~Marlee~

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  29. Love your photos of the swallows lined up on the wire. Nice shots!

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  30. What beautiful little creatures!

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  31. Cute! They do look like notes on a scale.

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  32. Lovely little beauties and great shots of them. Thanks for hosting.

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  33. Beautiful pictures of the swallows, Stewart.
    Here in the Netherlands, the swallows arrived again.
    The other species of the swallow has arrived yet.
    Greetings Irma

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  34. Loads and loads of Swallows, excellent shots.

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  35. Your photographs are stunning, Stewart! Phenomenal!

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  36. Fantastic pictures there Stewart. Its interesting to see this familiar species from a 'Southern perspective' as they are residents here up north.

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  37. Swallows are beautiful birds. Love them all lined up on the wire. Enlarged they are awesome! I've tried to get shots of the swallows nesting in Bro O's barn. No luck yet!

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  38. Thanks for hosting Wild bird Wednesday! Wonderful series of photos.

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  39. Their little expressions or precious. Like, "Who ya looking at?"

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  40. Great shots, Stewart. Those swallows look like notes on a stave.

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  41. Their formation on the wires does remind me of sheet music. Beautiful photos. The cropping works well here too.

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  42. Sweet little bug eating birds. Our Tree Swallows have returned but the Barn swallows (Hirundo rustica) haven't showed up yet. Soon though. MB

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  43. your swallow look a bit like barn swallows except for the short tail. Lovely images. Did you try to play?

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  44. Beautiful! I just love the first one- that truly needs to be framed!

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  45. Lovely pictures.. I love Swallows.. Congrats.

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  46. These are great. Such cute little birds. Very different from the Swallows we have around here. These have such "fluffy" little feathers and just look so adorable sitting on those wires.

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  47. These birds on the wire are so cute! And your photos amazing!!

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  48. Great shots. They really were gathering there.

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  49. Wonderful shots of these beautiful birds. I love seeing them all lined up.

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  50. It's so hard to get a good photo of swallows. Unless you are Stewart! Thanks for sharing. And thanks for this meme.

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  51. Another great set of shots.

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  52. Hi Stewart, I linked to this post again, today as I had more birds to share before I go out to South Africa this weekend. Greetings. Jo

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  53. All lined up just waiting for you to click!!!! This is precious and was worth the time!!!!...:)JP

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  54. Oh my gosh!! This is gorgeous!!
    We see this at our local lake. My daughter took a shot of around six in a row on the railing. We had it blown up on canvas for her room.

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  55. These are really fantastic bird photographs ..Birds tend to be at their most active at either end of the day, and can often disappear during the middle of the day.

    Stock fotografie

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