Tammie Rogers
Inspired by Dogs & Nature
Right Place – Right Time
Sometimes I get lucky.
Filming wild birds on our property is an amazing hobby for which I am very grateful. Not everybody has a little piece of nature right in their own backyard where they can experience so many wonderful events – like a Great Egret feeding in the pond or a Northern Harrier hunting over the hay field in winter. Robert and I work hard to maintain this lifestyle. I realize that owning this land a gift and I don’t like to waste it. I try to get out and about as often as possible. It’s never as often as I wish.
When I do load up the camera gear and take off in the golf cart, I never know what I might see. A few days ago I was privy to an event that happens quite frequently at this time of year. That doesn’t mean that many people get to capture it on film.
I was sitting about 30 feet from the wooden birdhouse in our front yard. There’s a Bluebird couple feeding chicks and I hoped to get some good shots. About 25 feet from that house is another that I did not think was in use by any birds. Certainly, it wouldn’t be hosting another Bluebird couple. They are territorial and another couple would not be nesting that close to the first pair.
As I faced house #4 and the Bluebirds, I noticed a bird out of the corner of my eye. It landed on house #5. I turned and noticed it was a female Tree Swallow. She was peering into the entry hole. That’s sometimes sign that her mate has previously checked out the option and has invited her to evaluate the house for their future brood.
The male then landed atop the box.
The pair flew off, in a sort of lover’s chase over the nearby hay field. The matched each other’s speed and pattern. I could hear their high pitched vocalizations.
I turned back to film the Bluebird that had arrived to House #4 with a big grub. I saw her mate in the Willow tree, and attempted to get a decent shot of him, as well. Then, again, out of my peripheral vision I caught activity on House #5. The female Tree Swallow had landed atop the house. She appeared to be gazing upwards.
Not long later, I was privy to that rarely seen event. It was sunny which is favorable for good photography (at least for me.) I was in very close proximity of the birds. The conditions were just perfect for me to capture the pair mating.
I’m going to say that Tree Swallow sex is pretty much the definition of a “quickie” but I did capture several of those quickies which transpired over a few minutes, after which the female preened herself. I didn’t stick around there after, as I wanted to see what else might be happening around the property.
The following day I stopped by the front yard to see that the female was peering out of the entry hole of the box. That’s a good sign that the pair has chosen house #5 as their nesting site. The weather is promising and my schedule is open for a trip out tomorrow. Perhaps, I will be able to report progress on the Tree Swallows in House #5.
Tammie Rogers 