{"id":52400,"date":"2018-06-03T04:13:43","date_gmt":"2018-06-03T10:13:43","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/?p=52400"},"modified":"2025-11-22T09:33:43","modified_gmt":"2025-11-22T15:33:43","slug":"nesting-tree-swallows-in-the-high-uintas","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2018\/06\/03\/nesting-tree-swallows-in-the-high-uintas\/","title":{"rendered":"Nesting Tree Swallows in the High Uintas"},"content":{"rendered":"

Nesting Tree Swallows<\/h2>\n

\"CloseClose up of a male Tree Swallow at a nesting cavity – Nikon D500, f7.1, 1\/800, ISO 500, Nikkor 500mm VR with 1.4x TC, natural light
\n<\/span><\/p>\n

While I photographed nesting House Wrens in the High Uintas<\/span><\/a> the last day of May I also photographed nesting Tree Swallows in the same Quaking Aspen tree in a cavity a bit lower on the trunk.<\/p>\n

The tree is right next to the shoulder of a dirt road and even with being parked on the shoulder on opposite side of the road I had too much lens for the swallows that went in and out of the nesting cavity. I decided to take a few close up photos before turning my camera to a vertical position.<\/p>\n

I could have used more depth of field for this photo to bring the aspen tree trunk into sharp focus but I could see that my shutter speed was low. I didn’t think I’d have time to change my settings before the swallow flew away so I went with the settings I had. I like the intimacy of close ups and this photo conveys that sense of intimacy well.<\/p>\n

\"MaleMale Tree Swallow at a nesting cavity in an Aspen – Nikon D500, f7.1, 1\/500, ISO 500, Nikkor 500mm VR with 1.4x TC, natural light<\/span><\/p>\n

I noticed when I turned my camera to a vertical position to get the bird’s whole body in the frame that the Tree Swallow was losing a primary feather on its right wing. I can only speculate as to why the swallow is losing that primary feather during this time of the year.<\/p>\n

My thoughts are that the feather could have been caught on something which loosened or damaged it where the feather joins the bird’s wing.\u00a0 I thought it made for an interesting shadow on the aspen trunk. Right after this photo was taken this Tree Swallow flew away.<\/p>\n

Finding and sharing a mated pair of nesting Red-naped Sapsuckers at this tree two years ago paid of for me over and over again.<\/p>\n

Tree Swallows are secondary cavity nesters<\/strong><\/h2>\n

They use old sapsucker, woodpecker, and flicker nesting cavities as well as man made nesting boxes.<\/p>\n

These Tree Swallows in the Uinta Mountains<\/span><\/a> sure kept me entertained and busy while I photographed them.<\/p>\n

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

Mia<\/p>\n

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

While I photographed nesting House Wrens in the High Uintas the last day of May I also photographed nesting Tree Swallows in the same Aspen tree in a cavity a bit lower on the trunk.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":143976,"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":[27,1731,2171,5219,26],"tags":[1919,5370,4062,4075,473,2580,6576,7791,6527,4807,3470,4377,1523],"class_list":["post-52400","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-avian","category-summit-county-utah","category-tree-swallows","category-uinta-wasatch-cache-national-forest","category-utah","tag-aspen","tag-forest","tag-male","tag-nest","tag-nesting-behavior-2","tag-nesting-cavity","tag-populus-tremuloides","tag-quaking-aspen","tag-secondary-cavity-nester","tag-swallow","tag-swallows","tag-tachycineta-bicolor","tag-tree-swallow"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/tree-swallow-male-nesting-cavity-mia-mcpherson-3623.jpg","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p11Mom-dDa","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":15316,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2014\/07\/04\/the-magical-sapsucker-tree-in-clark-county-idaho\/","url_meta":{"origin":52400,"position":0},"title":"The Magical Sapsucker Tree in Clark County, Idaho","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"July 4, 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"A month ago I photographed a pair of Williamson's Sapsuckers excavating a nesting cavity in Idaho and this past week I spent several days photographing them again.","rel":"","context":"In "Birds"","block_context":{"text":"Birds","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/avian\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Male Williamson's Sapsucker leaving the nesting cavity, Targhee National Forest, Clark County, Idaho","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/07\/williamsons-sapsucker-male-flight-mia-mcpherson-8491.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/07\/williamsons-sapsucker-male-flight-mia-mcpherson-8491.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/07\/williamsons-sapsucker-male-flight-mia-mcpherson-8491.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/07\/williamsons-sapsucker-male-flight-mia-mcpherson-8491.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":70239,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2020\/05\/25\/tree-swallows-nesting-in-the-uinta-mountains\/","url_meta":{"origin":52400,"position":1},"title":"Tree Swallows Nesting In The Uinta Mountains","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"May 25, 2020","format":false,"excerpt":"Tree Swallows and other birds should be nesting in the Uinta Mountains by now and I am itching to hop into my Jeep to drive up there to find them.","rel":"","context":"In "Birds"","block_context":{"text":"Birds","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/avian\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Male Tree Swallow at nest entrance, Uinta Wasatch Cache National Forest, Summit County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/tree-swallow-male-nesting-cavity-mia-mcpherson-9572.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-male-nesting-cavity-mia-mcpherson-9572.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/tree-swallow-male-nesting-cavity-mia-mcpherson-9572.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/tree-swallow-male-nesting-cavity-mia-mcpherson-9572.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":52400,"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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Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/06\/tree-swallow-nesting-in-aspen-mia-mcpherson-6699.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/06\/tree-swallow-nesting-in-aspen-mia-mcpherson-6699.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/06\/tree-swallow-nesting-in-aspen-mia-mcpherson-6699.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/06\/tree-swallow-nesting-in-aspen-mia-mcpherson-6699.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":58132,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2019\/05\/25\/yellow-warbler-high-in-the-uinta-mountains\/","url_meta":{"origin":52400,"position":4},"title":"Yellow Warbler High In The Uinta Mountains","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"May 25, 2019","format":false,"excerpt":"The other bird I photographed that day in the high Uintas was a gorgeous male Yellow Warbler foraging in an aspen tree very close to where I sat inside a \"mobile\" blind at the edge of a dirt road.","rel":"","context":"In "Birds"","block_context":{"text":"Birds","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/avian\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Male Yellow Warbler hanging from an aspen, Uinta Mountains, Uinta National Forest, Summit County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/yellow-warbler-male-aspens-mia-mcpherson-4076.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/yellow-warbler-male-aspens-mia-mcpherson-4076.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, 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