{"id":68631,"date":"2019-01-28T05:56:12","date_gmt":"2019-01-28T12:56:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.featheredphotography.com\/blog\/?p=68631"},"modified":"2019-01-28T07:56:49","modified_gmt":"2019-01-28T14:56:49","slug":"an-angry-frustrated-and-frightened-barn-swallow","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/featheredphotography.com\/blog\/2019\/01\/28\/an-angry-frustrated-and-frightened-barn-swallow\/","title":{"rendered":"An Angry, Frustrated And Frightened Barn Swallow"},"content":{"rendered":"

Occasionally I rerun a favorite older blog post because few current readers have ever seen it. This one, first published on October 12, 2011, definitely qualifies as a favorite because of the unusual circumstances and interesting behavior. For this version I’ve substantially edited the text, cleaned up the formatting and re-processed the images.<\/em><\/p>\n

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Have you ever accidentally (or on purpose, c’mon – admit it!) had your fingers stuck together by superglue? If so this swallow knows how you felt.<\/p>\n

As I approached the parking lot at Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge just before driving the loop road there were hundreds of swallows flying around the pavilion, as per usual in spring and early summer. I noticed this Barn Swallow perched on a post and decided to try for a few shots. It allowed me a close approach but it quickly became obvious that the bird was in distress and at first I didn’t know why.<\/p>\n

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If you look closely at the image above you\u2019ll notice that there is \u201csomething\u201d connecting the tip of a tail feather and one of the primary wing feathers that prevented the swallow from opening its right wing and flying. As a result it was a very unhappy, frustrated and probably frightened bird.<\/p>\n

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I photographed the swallow for over 10 minutes as it struggled to solve its incomprehensible problem.<\/p>\n

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It would alternate between attempting to break the connection by raising and extending its wings and\u2026<\/p>\n

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trying to reach the problem area with its beak but it couldn’t even come close to reaching the connection.<\/p>\n

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At times it would give up and express its apparent anger and frustration by calling out pitifully and then after a while it would try again. Eventually, after more than 10 minutes of desperate struggling, the connection between the feathers broke and the bird instantly flew off \u2013 so fast and unexpectedly that I didn’t have a chance for a takeoff shot.<\/p>\n

I think I was as relieved as the bird. It would be easy for me to break the connection if I had the swallow in hand but I wasn’t looking forward to the process of trying to catch it. There was no way I’d have left it in the situation it was in if I could help it so despite me missing the takeoff shot it brought a big smile when the swallow flew off.<\/p>\n

I still don\u2019t know what substance caused the problem. I’ve wondered about the possibilities of spider silk, sticky tree sap and even fishing line but when I look at a closeup in a high-resolution version of the photo I can’t tell what it is and it doesn’t really look like any of those three possibilities. It remains a mystery to me.<\/p>\n

Some readers may shake their heads (or worse) at the anthropomorphism in my title and text but I’m unapologetic about it. I used to be less anthropomorphic than I am now but it was on this occasion that I began my journey to becoming convinced that birds can, without question in my mind, experience emotions. And some of them intensely.<\/p>\n

Ron<\/p>\n

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Note:<\/p>\n

I have one long-shot theory about what the mysterious substance might have been. Consider the following:<\/em><\/p>\n