{"id":39864,"date":"2016-06-03T04:35:56","date_gmt":"2016-06-03T10:35:56","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/?p=39864"},"modified":"2025-05-09T14:10:45","modified_gmt":"2025-05-09T19:10:45","slug":"tree-swallow-near-modoc-creek-idaho","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2016\/06\/03\/tree-swallow-near-modoc-creek-idaho\/","title":{"rendered":"Tree Swallow near Modoc Creek, Idaho"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"TreeTree Swallow near Modoc Creek – Nikon D810, f6.3, 1\/160, ISO 800, Nikkor 500mm VR with 1.4x TC, natural light<\/span><\/p>\n

Tree Swallow nesting season is in high gear in the areas I have been camping at in Idaho and Montana. There is plenty of squabbling going on near nesting cavities, both natural and at man made nesting boxes.<\/p>\n

The males seem happy to stake out a nesting cavity and make all kinds of noises while they do. They can be quite vocal!<\/p>\n

I’ve been using my eyes a lot this trip trying to locate and point out active, natural nesting cavities and I have found a few but while I observed them they weren’t busy with activity.<\/p>\n

I did visit an older nesting cavity tree I know about and found some Tree Swallows busy at the cavity but there were clouds overhead so the light was low and I wasn’t getting much shutter speed so I took more soft images than usual even though I bumped my ISO up to 800.<\/p>\n

I liked this image of a Tree Swallow near Modoc Creek because of the eye contact, head turn, colors and the pattern of the conifer needles in the background.<\/p>\n

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

Mia<\/p>\n

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

I liked this image of a Tree Swallow near Modoc Creek because of the eye contact, head turn, colors and the pattern of the conifer needles in the background.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":143952,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":true,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[27,2578,2244,3717,2261,2171],"tags":[4004,4073,5182,5181,3843,5370,4062,2579,4104,165,4807,3470,4377,4427,1523],"class_list":["post-39864","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-avian","category-clark-county","category-idaho","category-modoc-creek","category-targhee-national-forest","category-tree-swallows","tag-adult","tag-breeding-season","tag-cavity","tag-conifers","tag-creek","tag-forest","tag-male","tag-nesting-tree","tag-perched","tag-spring","tag-swallow","tag-swallows","tag-tachycineta-bicolor","tag-tree","tag-tree-swallow"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/tree-swallow-adult-male-mia-mcpherson-8768.jpg","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p11Mom-amY","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":46869,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2017\/05\/20\/low-light-tree-swallow-in-the-targhee-national-forest-of-idaho\/","url_meta":{"origin":39864,"position":0},"title":"Low light Tree Swallow in the Targhee National Forest of Idaho","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"May 20, 2017","format":false,"excerpt":"Last year I was able to spend time photographing this male Tree Swallow in low light in the Targhee National Forest of Idaho and even though the light wasn't the best I still liked the resulting images.","rel":"","context":"In "Birds"","block_context":{"text":"Birds","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/avian\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Low light Tree Swallow, Modoc Creek, Targhee National Forest, Clark County, Idaho","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/tree-swallow-low-light-mia-mcpherson-8707.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/tree-swallow-low-light-mia-mcpherson-8707.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/tree-swallow-low-light-mia-mcpherson-8707.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/tree-swallow-low-light-mia-mcpherson-8707.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":82114,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2021\/03\/23\/tree-swallows-have-returned\/","url_meta":{"origin":39864,"position":1},"title":"Tree Swallows Have Returned","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"March 23, 2021","format":false,"excerpt":"A little birdie told me that Tree Swallows returned to the marshes at Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge about the middle of this month.","rel":"","context":"In "Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge"","block_context":{"text":"Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/locations\/utah\/bear-river-migratory-bird-refuge\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Spring Tree Swallows in the marsh, Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge, Box Elder County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/tree-swallows-marsh-bear-river-mbr-mia-mcpherson-7704.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/tree-swallows-marsh-bear-river-mbr-mia-mcpherson-7704.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/tree-swallows-marsh-bear-river-mbr-mia-mcpherson-7704.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/tree-swallows-marsh-bear-river-mbr-mia-mcpherson-7704.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":125851,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2024\/03\/25\/tree-swallows-have-migrated-into-northern-utah\/","url_meta":{"origin":39864,"position":2},"title":"Tree Swallows Have Migrated Into Northern Utah","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"March 25, 2024","format":false,"excerpt":"Over the weekend, I read on Facebook that Tree Swallows have migrated back into Northern Utah for their breeding season. I am so excited about that news!","rel":"","context":"In "Beaverhead County"","block_context":{"text":"Beaverhead County","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/locations\/montana\/beaverhead-county-montana\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Tree Swallow peeking out of a natural nesting cavity in the High Uintas, Uinta Mountains, Uinta National Forest, Summit County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/tree-swallow-aspen-high-uintas-mia-mcpherson-6727.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/tree-swallow-aspen-high-uintas-mia-mcpherson-6727.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/tree-swallow-aspen-high-uintas-mia-mcpherson-6727.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, 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Idaho","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/11\/red-naped-sapsucker-food-chicks-mia-mcpherson-9018.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/11\/red-naped-sapsucker-food-chicks-mia-mcpherson-9018.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/11\/red-naped-sapsucker-food-chicks-mia-mcpherson-9018.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/11\/red-naped-sapsucker-food-chicks-mia-mcpherson-9018.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":84146,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2021\/04\/11\/red-naped-sapsucker-photos\/","url_meta":{"origin":39864,"position":4},"title":"Red-naped Sapsucker Photos","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"April 11, 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