{"id":86023,"date":"2020-06-07T06:05:45","date_gmt":"2020-06-07T12:05:45","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.featheredphotography.com\/blog\/?p=86023"},"modified":"2020-06-07T09:47:10","modified_gmt":"2020-06-07T15:47:10","slug":"cliff-swallows-a-surprise-attack-and-an-epic-fight-in-the-mud","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/featheredphotography.com\/blog\/2020\/06\/07\/cliff-swallows-a-surprise-attack-and-an-epic-fight-in-the-mud\/","title":{"rendered":"Cliff Swallows – A Surprise Attack And An Epic Fight In The Mud"},"content":{"rendered":"

When Cliff Swallows are gathering mud for their nests a peaceful and constructive activity can turn into mayhem in a nanosecond.<\/p>\n

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Three days ago in the mountains I was attempting to get takeoff and flight shots of Cliff Swallows with a load of mud for their nests in their bills. I was focusing on the bird at bottom while it was peacefully gathering mud. As I waited for it to take off another swallow attacked from out of nowhere and for no reason that I could see.<\/p>\n

In order to help me tell the story and make it easier for readers to keep the players straight I’m going to assign names to both birds. I’ll call the innocent victim ‘George’ and the attacking swallow ‘Derek’. All photos are presented in the order they were taken.<\/em><\/p>\n

Derek attacked from the air and from behind and immediately pinned George down while biting the back of his neck and…<\/p>\n

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forcing his head down and into the mud.<\/p>\n

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For a moment George managed to raise his head back up but…<\/p>\n

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Derek slammed it back down into the mud and….<\/p>\n

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held it there for…<\/p>\n

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a relatively long time – long enough for me to get many photos similar to these.<\/p>\n

Fighting Cliff Swallows have been known to drown in the water or mud and it appeared to me as if Derek had exactly that in mind for George.<\/p>\n

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But George had a different outcome in mind. With a herculean effort he pushed himself up like a phoenix rising out of the mud and he put retaliatory pressure on Derek’s own neck in the process.<\/p>\n

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With his victim now in a better position to defend himself Derek apparently decided that discretion was the better part of valor and got the hell out of Dodge.<\/p>\n

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Cliff Swallows fight regularly and viciously and often for ‘unknown reasons’. Their battles can last for 15 minutes or more. Cornell’s Birds of the World suggests one possible reason for them fighting while gathering mud for their nests:<\/p>\n