23 May 08
Cliff Swallows
Zeladoniac at Drawing the Motmot passes on a tip from bird artist Barry Van Dusen: concentrate on one bird until you really GET it. Don’t switch between herons and warblers to pigeons and caracaras: really learn them one at a time.
“For example: Monday=Raptor Day, Tuesday=Shorebird Day, Wednesday=Cassowary Day (or whatever shows up for you). Try it!”
Well, we have no shortage of swallows, it seems. Now that the barn swallows are nesting, the cliff swallows that normally nest colonially on the bridge over the creek have started prospecting the carport also, and one pair is about 1/3 of the way along.
I sat outside last night watching them coming to and from the bridge, collecting mud that is abundant in an area where an underground pipe is burst. Water is precious here and it’s just pouring into evaporation land, something that makes me nuts, but it does make good mud for swallow nests.
You get about 2 seconds per bird in flight. If you’re lucky. But they tend to repeat the same gestures, the same turns, particularly on the return journey when they have to fly into the wind.
I went over to the mudhole and sat down. Several swallows alit, wings and tail fluttering, while they collected mud bits. I’m not clear the color on the underside of the wing is right, but I think I’ll spend some more time with them later on, as Barry suggests. Till I really know the bird. You might be seeing swallows for a while…
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It’s good advice, but sometimes it’s hard to just stick with one bird when others come around tempting me with their cuteness. ;)
I’m glad the birds can use the mud!
A pipe got cut under our house this past fall, and we hemorrhaged five gallons a minute for at least three weeks! The water company didn’t make us pay for it, but we had to borrow lots of money to fix it. The water loss was during a drought, and it made us sick!