{"id":102752,"date":"2022-05-29T05:37:36","date_gmt":"2022-05-29T11:37:36","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/?p=102752"},"modified":"2022-06-05T05:16:24","modified_gmt":"2022-06-05T11:16:24","slug":"female-and-male-barn-swallow-photos","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2022\/05\/29\/female-and-male-barn-swallow-photos\/","title":{"rendered":"Female And Male Barn Swallow Photos"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"AdultAdult female Barn Swallow in spring \u2013 Nikon D500, f10, 1\/800, ISO 640, Nikkor 500mm VR with 1.4x TC, natural light<\/span><\/p>\n

Last week while I was high in the Wasatch Mountains I was able to take female and male Barn Swallow photos as they perched on a fence next to a creek. The females of this species typically have paler underparts than the male Barn Swallows. Their forked tails are also generally shorter than the males.<\/p>\n

This female swallow had a remarkably lighter breast and belly than the male that she was perched close to. Her tail feathers also appeared shorter than the tail feathers of the male. These two images do not show their tail feathers well though.<\/p>\n

The differences in the colors of their breast and belly feathers was striking to me in the field using just my eyes and looking through my viewfinder.<\/p>\n

\"AdultAdult male Barn Swallow in spring \u2013 Nikon D500, f10, 1\/640, ISO 640, Nikkor 500mm VR with 1.4x TC, natural light<\/span><\/p>\n

Compared to the lighter colors of the female the breast and underparts of the male were a richer, deeper cinnamon rufous color.<\/p>\n

I enjoyed watched these two Barn Swallows<\/span><\/a> preening and fluffing their feathers through my viewfinder. More of a rufous color showed where the belly feathers of the female were damp. She may have bathed prior to me taking these photos or gotten those feathers wet while skimming the creek for food or getting a drink of cool water.<\/p>\n

It won’t be long before I will be seeing and photographing young Barn Swallows in the high country of the Wasatch Mountains or the marshy areas of Farmington Bay WMA and Bear River MBR. Until then I hope to take more images of the adults because they are beautiful and fascinating birds.<\/p>\n

Life is<\/em> good.<\/p>\n

Mia<\/p>\n

Click here<\/a><\/span> to see more of my Barn Swallow photos plus facts and information about this species.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Last week while I was high in the Wasatch Mountains I was able to take female and male Barn Swallow photos as they perched on a fence next to a creek.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":102746,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[2108,27,4594,26,773],"tags":[4004,4430,2111,3940,3843,4070,3830,10307,4545,4062,4069,4104,9626,165,4807,3470],"class_list":["post-102752","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-barn-swallows","category-avian","category-morgan-county","category-utah","category-wasatch-mountains","tag-adult","tag-barbed-wire","tag-barn-swallow","tag-canyon","tag-creek","tag-female","tag-fence","tag-gender","tag-hirundo-rustica","tag-male","tag-mountains","tag-perched","tag-riparian-habitat","tag-spring","tag-swallow","tag-swallows"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/05\/barn-swallow-adult-female-perched-mia-mcpherson-9343.jpg","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p11Mom-qJi","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":47260,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2017\/06\/12\/stretching-barn-swallow-close-up\/","url_meta":{"origin":102752,"position":0},"title":"Stretching Barn Swallow Close Up","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"June 12, 2017","format":false,"excerpt":"When this Barn Swallow started to stretch its wings I was ready for the action and took several photos of it while it stretched on top of the fence post.","rel":"","context":"In "Barn Swallows"","block_context":{"text":"Barn Swallows","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/avian\/swallows\/barn-swallows\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Stretching Barn Swallow adult, Wasatch Mountains, Morgan County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/barn-swallow-stretching-mia-mcpherson-7535.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/barn-swallow-stretching-mia-mcpherson-7535.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, 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McPherson","date":"August 18, 2018","format":false,"excerpt":"I'd driven up into a Wasatch Mountain canyon and was waiting for the sun to rise over the mountains when I spotted several juvenile Barn Swallows perched on a fence right next to the road in lovely morning light.","rel":"","context":"In "Barn Swallows"","block_context":{"text":"Barn Swallows","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/avian\/swallows\/barn-swallows\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Juvenile Barn Swallow portrait, Wasatch Mountains, Morgan County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/barn-swallow-juvenile-close-up-mia-mcpherson-5778.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/barn-swallow-juvenile-close-up-mia-mcpherson-5778.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, 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