On Thursday evening, I met up with Rob Stone and Maria Loukeris at the Liberty Loop Trail viewing platform and we had five species of swallows feeding over the marsh: Tree, Barn, Northern Rough-winged, Bank, and Cliff. It was a learning experience for me, and I think I now have a pretty decent handle on identifying these erratic and fast flying birds. The highlight for me was getting incredible scope views of a perched Cliff Swallow, sitting among some Barn Swallows. I went back on Friday evening and tried for some flight photos. I had all the same swallows except for Cliff Swallow.
Beautiful photos of some of the most difficult species to capture in flight! Wonderful!
Thanks Dave, I was just happy to finally get a little bit of a handle on these birds – they can be tough! Matt