swallow Archives - Craig Rogers Photography

The “Well” Swallows Are Back!

1st February 20201st February 2020Craig Rogers

This morning as I walked the dogs I recognised a familiar bird call followed by a silhouette against the white canvas of the morning hill mist. A pair of Barn Swallows, these are always the first pair to arrive in this area (even though in the Algarve, Barn Swallows can be seen in December) and they are the “Well” Swallows, named because they have their nest down inside a water well.

I was able to hide inside the Well’s pump house to get some great close up shots. I say this everytime, but please don’t approach live bird nests when the young are there, I’m lucky that I can hide away in the pump house completely hidden.

These are the shots I got last year, but I was struggling with light deep down in the well with overhanging trees.

Space Is Getting Tight In The Well Nest

17th April 201917th April 2019Craig Rogers

Originally, I thought there were just 3 Barn Swallow Hatchlings in the Well Nest (See Blog Post), and then I counted 5.

This morning, I took a look to see how things are going and there’s 6 of them in there! As you can imagine, light is a bit rubbish down inside the Well which makes it difficult to photograph the parents feeding them. However, the construction of the Well and the pump house makes a perfect hide. I am able to sit lower down in the pump house and use a small window to look directly at the nest without being seen or disturb them. The Well is owned by my neighbour and I will be asking him for the key to the pump house to try to bring you some shots of them being fed!

Morning Dog Walk: Swallow Nest, Bee Eaters & My Tarantula Is Possibly Dead!

2nd April 20192nd April 2019Craig Rogers

I take a camera along on my Dog Walks to bring you some of the sightings that I see on my morning walks, these photos are rarely going to be great quality as its hard enough keeping an energetic Dog entertained and get close enough to anything. They also help me identify where species are so that I can plan to return.

The area was covered in thick mist this morning but I still decided to take the camera along and I took a stop at an old Well to check if the Barn Swallows had started to use the nest.

IMPORTANT! – It’s never a good idea to approach a nesting bird but in this instance I used the camera’s Live-View with the screen tilted so that I didn’t actually look over the edge of the well!

I pointed the camera like a periscope over the edge of the well and captured this shot of a Swallow already sitting on the nest. It’s both genius and dangerous for them to build this nest here. Of course, no predator can get to the nest, but if the nest falls off it will drop into the water or if a baby falls, it’s going to drown. Of course, when the young fledge, it will be a difficult flight too. This is the 2nd year, they have nested here, so maybe they know what they are doing.

Morning Dog Walk: Birds Showing Off Their Beauty

20th February 201920th February 2019Craig Rogers

This morning I had the opportunity to capture the beauty of two particularly difficult birds to photograph in flight.

First, the unmistakably stunning Hoopoe. They are calling every morning now and this one was actually in a group of five.

{Click image(s) to view on Flickr - opens in new tab}

Morning Dog Walk: The Barn Swallows Have Returned

8th February 20198th February 2019Craig Rogers

Whilst walking near the river this morning I heard a noise that I’ve not heard since the end of September and instantly recognised it as Barn Swallows. I looked to the sky to see 3 of them flying around catching flies for breakfast.

Whilst you may think this is early, it is right on time for the Barn Swallows to return at the beginning of February.

If you want to learn more about the Swallows, Martins and Swifts we can find in the Algarve, take a look at my Algarve Resident article I wrote in July 2018 titled Swallows, Martins and Swifts.

Red-rumped Swallows Are Here

17th July 201817th July 2018Craig Rogers

Actually, they have been here for many months, however, I hadn’t noticed them. They do return much later in the spring than the Barn Swallows and House Martins. We used to have these nesting in their “tunnel” nests here under one of the terrace roofs at the Quinta, however, at the end of last years breeding season the nest fell off.

They don’t normally like nesting around humans so it was no surprise that this year they decided not to rebuild. They normally build nests under cover in uninhabited structures such as bridges. They had built a nest at the Quinta the year before we moved in as it was not permanently occupied then.

This morning I took a photo of what I thought was Barn Swallows, but when I looked on returning home, I discovered these are indeed Red-rumped Swallows. They are larger than Barn Swallows and almost totally white underneath whereas a Barn Swallow has a rusty coloured chin. As the name suggests, the Red-rumped Swallow has a rusty coloured rump which is difficult to see in flight.

Here is a photo of one chasing a fly, which it did catch.

Red-rumped Swallow chasing its breakfast!