Last Thursday I pulled off the road in front of a cliff dirt bank to take a closer look at the swallows that were flying back and forth across the front of it and darting in and out of nooks and crannies. I wanted to get a closer look to determine if the swallows were Bank or Northern Rough-Winged.
It was quite warm so I opened the car door for some additional movement of air. I picked up my binoculars and soon determined that the swallows were Rough-winged. Pretty soon the swallows started circling the car and flying up in between the open door and me like they wanted to get a closer look too.
My Coolpix was handy and I thought it would be fun to see if I could get some shots of them flying up to the car. The next thing I knew two of them flew in, landing feet first in true swallow style on the door frame. I was astounded as they sat there looking at me all the while singing away.
It then dawned on me to push the video button on the camera that was still in my hand. My hope was to record this interesting occurrence, after all who would believe that this actually happened without video! I recorded the birds for a about a minute and then they flew away.
I was sitting there thinking about how special it had been to have the two swallows stop by for a visit when they flew in again and sat there chattering just as before. This time I simply sat and enjoyed this up close, personal, and for me spiritual moment.
Here is the video: Northern Rough-winged Swallows