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Dawn Chorus: Swallow Obsession Fall Clearance [1]

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Date: 2022-09-11

This Shining Moment photo was the closer for Swallow Obsession, a Daily Bucket Friday Sequence story. However, my obsessive attempts continued in an effort to raise the bar for capturing their Shining Moment.

Flint Hills of Kansas

Swallow Obsession Fall Clearance was compiled 8/26/2022 and has been slightly updated since that time.

Fall Clearance is official notice that most of my Swallows have left their late spring, summer, and early fall home here, assumedly to embark on their trip toward wherever they go for the winter. August 25 was the day the last two belligerent babies finally gave up their intention to occupy their nest on a permanent basis, following the advice of Main Papa they take to the airways. Later on that day the eight member contingent of Swallows remaining left to rejoin the main group which had left on the 19th. This marks the earliest fall Swallow departure I have seen. The notion that this year is different is validated by Swallow behavior, just as it was when nearly all raptors left this area in mass during late spring for the first time I have ever known.

On August 26th I did get fuzzy photos of two Swallows flying very high over the main barn...just a wild guess as to the identity* of those two birds. Update 8/30. I saw three Swallows perched on the line as I went to the upper barn. One was Main Papa. The other two were young* birds. Just after dawn September 2nd there were 8 Swallows, my core group including the two youngsters*, perched on the line heading for the upper barn. Hadn’t seen hide nor feather of a Swallow here on our place since then, but I did spot a group on the Wagon Trail only a mile north one day later. On 9/9 a single small swallow flew high over the barn and made one circle over the thoroughbred pasture before I lost sight of it.

If you overlooked the earlier Swallow Obsession diary you should see that first as this Dawn Chorus picks up where that one left off. The ultimate goal is to document in photos as many Swallow behavioral traits as opportunity affords. Lets’ dive into the last installment for this year.

Swallow Behavior

Raising their young is a critical center in the circle of life for Swallows. I was blessed with the opportunity to witness some very unusual behavior from a pair of youngsters* who were the last of this years second brood to leave their nest. Leaving their nest was definitely NOT part of their long term plan. Of course at such a tender age “long term” is but a theory. After an initial flight the same day their nestmates and Miss Elegante’s first brood flew, these two quickly returned to their nest.

Belligerent babies returned to nest #5. I ended up calling them Mort and Mini.

They then refused to leave it for any significant amount of time for the next several days. What transpired during that time was simply amazing.

The bulk of our Swallow tribe made an exodus, presumably for their winter haunts, as soon as the other babies were comfortable in the air. But one adult individual remained behind, accompanied by a small contingent of supporting adults who had not yet finished their molt. That individual was none other than Main Papa. He was not the parent of these babies but he immediately assumed parental duties, providing the youngsters with meals he brought to the nest with incredible frequency. It is possible the female that laid the eggs might have been one of the remaining adults, but Papa was so fervent at his assumed duties the other adults mostly just stayed out of his way. That was most certainly not the case earlier in the year with Mama in complete charge of the broods in their nest!

Main Papa is an excellent hunter, and as you can see he is working his tail off.

Papa brought insect after insect in and fed both babies almost as fast as they could down them. I noticed growth in them from the first day to the second. It was as though the insects Main Papa brought were sacks of growth hormones, or steroids. The young birds had never had it so good and made no move to fly or leave the nest.

When day three of this ordeal rolled around Papa suddenly implemented a new feeding schedule. He did not bring meals as frequently as he had been. He instead sat on top of the nearby stall wall and chirped at the youngsters before flying out the door. They looked and listened but made no move to follow him out the door. By the morning of day four he refused to feed them in the nest, instead sitting on top of the stall wall right next to the doorway with a big bug in his beak. The babies were in their nest beaks agape, but their begging made no impression on Papa.

I found all this not only unusual, but compelling, and shirked the work I should have been doing in order to sit in my barn chair and watch. I had not seen anything quite like this before. During times when nothing was happening I worked at cleaning a stall, and contrived names for the baby birds. I couldn’t actually differentiate gender but gave one a male name and the other a female name. I call them Mort and Mini. At long last Mort jumped from the nest and flew over to perch on the wall, but Papa jumped off and flew out the door. When Mort didn’t follow Papa returned and fed Mort at his perch on the wall. After witnessing that process Mini flew over to join Mort, and Papa came back shortly with a bug for her. I realized the youngsters were being rewarded for leaving the nest. It was very much like the way I work with horses, rewarding effort toward the goal instead of trying to accomplish a complicated task all at once.

By evening chore time the babies had returned to their nest. Papa did not return, so the babies went without eating until well into the next morning when it had warmed sufficiently to inspire a fresh hatch of insects. By mid-morning that day both babies had followed Papa out the door and flew to perch on the power line right outside the main barn front door. Papa kept busy bringing insects to reward this desirable change in their behavior.

Papa verifies Mort is ready to receive.

Mort is fed time after time.

Papa is so rushed actual exchange of food is sometimes merely part of a hurried fly-by. ZOOM

Mini expresses her dissatisfaction at Mort getting all the goods. “Hey up there, what part of me sitting here with my beak wide open don’t you understand?”

Mort’s appetite seems insatiable. Mini is not at all satisfied with this arrangement and demonstrates her readiness. Bigger

Mort keeps getting the goods and is growing so fast you can almost see it happening. From this angle he appears to be surpassing Papa in size.

I whispered a warning, “Careful Papa, you’re in serious danger of becoming a headless Swallow!”

Mort puts his newly developed physique on display. Mini impatiently waits.

About this time some of the still molting female adults showed up to help and Mini finally gets her share of bug grub. A pair of females began stuffing Mini with a diet like Mort was now accustomed to. Both youngsters gained at an amazing rate. I have no explanation for why Papa focused so heavily on Mort while ignoring Mini.

This adult preens between trips to help feed Mini. I suspect this is the unusual female Crazy Bird. She can be hard to tell from a male. ZOOM

By day six the youngsters are both flying again and the adults guide them further afield, away from Appy Trails. They return after each hiatus, even if just to make an appearance or check out the barn. The hiatuses lengthen each time they leave and at length they did not return at all.

Since the babies are now confidently airborne this is where we end our coverage of an unusual juvenile rearing behavior sequence.

Let’s take a short step back up in time and hurry on over to the pond for the...

Shining Moment

I processed the cover photo of this diary in mid Aug. By the time Swallow Obsession hit the DKOS front page I had already secured several new potential Shining Moment upgrades, along with a bandwidth challenging load of near misses. To summarize I’ll just say I have difficulty choosing any single one as the best of my best. All that means is I still have work to do when the blistering heat returns next year. The dipping period lasts for about six weeks, all of July and the first half of August.

Main Papa, being the most incredible specimen of his kind that I have seen, is my target bird for the ultimate Shining Moment photo. He is, however, also the most difficult to catch in the act due to his array of cunning and evasive maneuvers. The following are a few I have chosen from the many hundreds I have taken during this summer. All are birds in the act of, or just following, their ‘cool pool’ dipping behavior. Part of the intrigue is because it happens in the same amount of time as one shutter release, but the memory endures.

In this case I was too quick to get the dip but this bird deserves a prize for perfection of reflection.

Incomer skimming. I was too early again.

Outgoing. I was too slow and the bird was too fast.

After the fact. It’s kind of strange how just a momentary glimpse of something can become a fixture in your mind.

Too early but it’s one of those times failure turns out to be a success. That happens a lot, although this one is especially pleasing for the level of definition for a high speed flying Swallow. Something else that happens a lot is a frame on your camera memory card that shows nothing but ripples on the surface of open water. They sneak in, dip, and are nearly gone before you even know they are there.

More evidence that what may initially be seen as failure is actually a success.

Perfect pose but no waterworks. If this one had waterworks I’d frame it and the story would end here.

Speaking of “perfect but no waterworks”...Papa gave me another chance but I was too anxious to get it just right. Timing the click just right is like snatching a fly out of the air bare handed without hurting it.

A Nano-second from being the ultimate Shining Moment photo of my dreams. Is Main Papa taking pity on me for trying so hard for so long? That is NOT confetti at photo top.

During the excessive heat of July and early August I took about 1500 Shining Moment photo attempts plus a bunch of BIFs. Here is what I ended up with as potential Shining Moment upgrades following the capture of our cover pic.

This IS a Shining Moment I got before the cover shot was even on your computer screen for Swallow Obsession, but happened days after I put that diary together. The fine spray along the top of the waterworks is testimony to the speed at which the birds are flying when they do this trick.

CONTENDER #1

Can’t say Main Papa didn’t do his part. I just can’t seem to manage to take a perfect photo of his effort.

CONTENDER #2

There is a lot of really cool stuff going on in this pic. Check out how the fine dribble of water from its beak arcs to connect to the reflection. You can see the water in its beak in the reflection but not so much when looking at the bird’s beak. Had that beautiful tail been fanned out real nice we would have our winner.

Contender #3

Honorable mention to this Cliffy for trying to compete by producing an exceptionally brilliant waterworks.

A Shining Moment to remember! Is this bird considering going for a double take?

Contender #4

This nicely defined Swallow would have been a serious top contender had it not been for the intense glare camouflaging what was a beautiful waterworks.

CONTENDER #5

So there ya go. That is 5 of my 6 top contenders. Like I said, I just couldn’t pick one of those that stood out as the top one. I have previously chronicled that all my photos are taken handheld and one click at a time, trying to capture a miniscule moment in time that has to be timed perfectly. It would be a lot easier if I could shoot in burst mode, but my camera maxes out at 3 exposures. I tried that, but only one image appeared on my card. That’s okay, because only one could be in focus anyway due to the speed the birds are traveling. I should probably invest is a memory card with more high speed processing capability.

What’s that you say? Something about that being only 5 of the 6 contenders?

By now you all know how I strive to finish with a flourish. Since I failed to get my dream shot before the birds left for this year I anointed a special one as best of my best and saved it for last. I also did something completely foreign to me. I embellished the primary photo with enhancements by combining it with two of my favorite Swallow BIFs. The bird mirrored in the bottom of the frame is Main Papa and I believe the bird framing the top is one of his male offspring. And that’s not all. I even furnished my own confetti! Actually I tried and failed midway through this project, but my youngest son bailed me out by doing a lot of the work it took to create what will reign as HIGH BAR RESIDENT until I can resume trying for that ultimate photo next year when the heat is too ridiculous to work in. Okay, draw that curtain back and see what Swallow Obsession really looks like.

Ta-da...

Mirroring Swallows.

How’s that for expressing a Swallow Obsession? This compilation is a family affair.

Special thanks is due my son, Sungleska, for providing his time and technical expertise to make this project a reality. I posted an old photo of him in his cradleboard in my Pow Wow diary. I am proud to say that today he is a full grown man of exceptional character (and tech skills). :)

My criteria for naming this the current ‘best of my best’ is in no small part because the primary photo is record of a moment very likely to be a once in a lifetime chance for me to see what I saw and actually get it’s origin recorded. Two nearly identical birds (the one dipping is Mama and the other, I believe, is her daughter Miss Elegante) coming in to make their magic simultaneously adds yet another element to a long list of things that all have to happen at the same instant to make this Shining Moment possible.

I hope you got to feel some of the thrill from viewing these photos that I felt when I saw it happen.

Go ahead and be obsessive. Let your chariot swing low and sing something sweet in the comments to make this a DAWN CHORUS to remember...until next year!

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[1] Url: https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2022/9/11/2118925/-Dawn-Chorus-Swallow-Obsession-Fall-Clearance

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