Northern Rough-winged Swallow photos by Larry Jordan
I saw these Northern Rough-winged Swallows checking out drainage pipes on a wall overlooking the Sacramento River near Turtle Bay. They will typically nest in burrows or cavities near water and these pipes probably suit them just fine. They were hawking insects in the air and right off the water surface as I watched their acrobatic displays.
The swallows have just returned to northern California in the last few weeks, including the Cliff Swallows, Tree Swallows, Violet-green Swallows and Barn Swallows. I haven’t seen any Bank Swallows yet this year but I’ve got my eyes open.
Cliff Swallows Building Nests photos by Larry Jordan
These Cliff Swallows have just returned to northern California and are beginning to build their nests. They nest in colonies, in grass lined covered nests made of mud pellets, usually under bridges or eaves of buildings or on cliffs. This photo shows a Cliff Swallow leaving the nest with some nesting material in its beak.
According to the Cornell Lab of Ornithology, the Cliff Swallow will sometimes lay their eggs in another swallow’s nest or carry an egg in its beak from their own nest to another female swallow’s nest. Isn’t that interesting behavior?
I just added this video I shot today to let you see the swallow’s actions and hear their calls.
This colony nests in an old concrete building at the Turtle Bay Museum in Redding Cailifornia. If you want to see more great critter photos, check out Camera Critters!
The Lewis’s Woodpecker is on the National Audubon Society’s watchlist mostly due to habitat loss. They breed in open forests of Ponderosa Pine or Cottonwood which are declining across their range. They are, however, year round residents of northern California and may be spotted flying from the tops of oak trees out to hawk insects and then back to the oak tree in a pattern similar to that of the Black Phoebe.
They are graceful in flight and a lot of fun to watch as they do their acrobatic flycatching runs.
If you enjoy great photos of the various skies all ove the world, be sure to go check out Skywatch Friday!
I went to the, as yet unoccupied, local community park here in Palo Cedro yesterday to check on my latest bluebird trail and found several Turkey Vultures just hanging around in the trees. So I thought I’d get some photographs.
Notice the dihedral wing position and the distinctive under-wing pattern. These are good clues to the ID of a Turkey Vulture however, from a distance, the easiest way to distinguish a TV from a hawk or eagle is the “wing tip.” Turkey Vultures tip their wings back and forth when they fly and hawks and eagles don’t.
Cliff Swallows Building Nests photos by Larry Jordan
Lewis’s Woodpecker photos by Larry Jordan
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