As I approached the parking lot at Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge just before taking the loop road there were myriads of swallows flying around as per usual in spring and early summer. I noticed this Barn Swallow on a post and decided to take a few shots. It let me approach very closely and I didn’t know why at first but it soon became very apparent that this bird was in distress.
If you look closely at the image above you’ll notice that there is “something” connecting the tips of a tail feather and one of the primary wing feathers that prevented this bird from flying and as a result it was a very unhappy and frustrated bird!
I photographed this swallow for over 10 minutes as it struggled to solve its incomprehensible problem.
It would alternately attempt to break the connection by raising and extending its wings and…
trying to reach the problem area with its beak, which it just couldn’t quite do.
At times its apparent anger and frustration (anthropomorphic of me, I know) became quite evident as it would momentarily cease struggling and just sit there and call out pitifully. But eventually the connection between the feathers broke and the bird flew off instantly – so fast that I missed the shot.
I still don’t know for sure what substance caused this problem. It has been suggested by others that it could have been spider silk. I’ve also wondered about the possibility of sticky tree sap. If anyone reading this has any ideas I’d love to hear them.
A word of explanation about the images. They were taken very early in my photographic learning curve and I was still shooting in jpeg rather than RAW so I had less flexibility in processing these shots. And I chose not to post my techs here because I really didn’t know what I was doing back then – no use embarrassing myself…
Ron
Dramatic series of pictures, the last image really tells the story. Glad to read that it had a happy ending, well done on this and the Kestrel series, way to go.
Ron:
After looking at these, I may revert to jpeg. I understand the swallow’s emotional cries. I’ve had super glue moments like that.
This is amazing, you should submit it to National Geographic! Or National Wildlife! so others can see this fantastic sequence!
So lucky that it managed to free itself. Call me cynical but I had assumed that man would have something to do with the birds dilemma – fishing line or the like.
Beautiful post as always. Thank you.