Tree Swallow Parent and Fledgling

[Bill Dix]

While on a local walk several months ago I came across a swallow parent feeding a youngster. The parent hovered and did a mid-air transfer of the morsel to the fledgling on the branch. I got a series of shots of the actual feeding, but the birds' heads were blocking each other, so I thought this was the better shot, taking a nanosecond after the parent made the transfer and began to back off.

D500, 500PF, ISO 1000, 1/3200s @ f/7.1 manual, HH

[John Mack]

Nice view of this adult and young one together. Both birds are nice and sharp. Like the lichen on the perch. Colors in the background are nice as well.

[Matt Sutherland]

Ah, that's too bad about the blocked heads during feeding... You have a very nice capture here, though I wish the young one's head was turned more. Really nice moment. Love that pose from mom and her look this way! Also the perch receding into the frame, but not drastically so.

[dankearl]

A head turn would have been nice... but a difficult shot to get and nice IQ.

[Daniel Cadieux]

I agree it would have been nice to have both birds parallel to the sensor, but a pretty neat behavioral image you got.

[Bill Dix]

Thank you all.