{"id":47814,"date":"2017-07-27T04:25:35","date_gmt":"2017-07-27T10:25:35","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/?p=47814"},"modified":"2025-05-09T14:30:18","modified_gmt":"2025-05-09T19:30:18","slug":"up-close-with-a-tree-swallow-at-red-rock-lakes-nwr","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2017\/07\/27\/up-close-with-a-tree-swallow-at-red-rock-lakes-nwr\/","title":{"rendered":"Up close with a Tree Swallow at Red Rock Lakes NWR"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"CloseClose up Tree Swallow perched on a fence post – Nikon D500, f9, 1\/1000, ISO 500, Nikkor 500mm VR with 1.4x TC, natural light<\/span><\/p>\n

My first trip up to Montana and Idaho usually happens in late May or early June but for various reasons this year it didn’t happen until July.<\/p>\n

That meant I missed the territorial squabbles between Mountain Bluebirds and Tree Swallows for the nesting boxes that have been installed along many of the roads in the Centennial Valley of Montana.<\/p>\n

I missed seeing and photographing both species taking nesting materials to the boxes and feeding their nestlings too. There were still a few Tree Swallows hanging out at nest boxes though I never saw them taking food to their young.<\/p>\n

While stopped at a gate at Red Rock lakes NWR<\/span><\/a> a Tree Swallow flew in and landed on a fence post so close that I wasn’t sure I was going to be able to focus on it but I had to try.<\/p>\n

I quickly turned off the limiter on my lens and hoped I was just far enough away to be able to obtain sharp, in focus images.<\/p>\n

At first the bird was facing directly towards me but it soon fluttered and turned its body so I could photograph it from the tip of its tiny beak to its tail.<\/p>\n

I didn’t take many photos of Tree Swallows on my recent trip up north but I sure enjoyed photographing this one.<\/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":"

While stopped at a gate at Red Rock lakes NWR a Tree Swallow flew in and landed on a fence post so close that I wasn’t sure I was going to be able to focus on it but I had to try.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":143966,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[1513,27,223,12,608,2171],"tags":[4004,4142,898,4104,4394,2315,4807,3470,4377,1523,5434,8917],"class_list":["post-47814","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-beaverhead-county-montana","category-avian","category-centennial-valley","category-montana","category-red-rock-lakes-national-wildlife-refuge","category-tree-swallows","tag-adult","tag-close-up","tag-fence-post","tag-perched","tag-post","tag-summer-3","tag-swallow","tag-swallows","tag-tachycineta-bicolor","tag-tree-swallow","tag-valley","tag-wooden-post"],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t