Barn Swallows, Tree Swallows and Bank Swallows
I’m surprised to see what I think are Sand Martins here in Virginia. Surely they’re not the same species? Then the realisation dawns on me; they are. I remember reading about them when I first saw them on Westray in Orkney:
Sand Martins – forty years ago in my nature notebooks
They really are an international bird. Here they are known as Bank Swallows, Riparia riparia:
This one is very dark and doesn’t have the much lighter underparts:
They are nesting in a hole in the back of this boat:
It’s nice to see they still fly like bullets here, just like they do in Orkney. I love the long shadow of the insect in its mouth here:
As well as Sand Martins there are Swallows here too. Here they’re called Barn Swallows, Hirundo rustica:
The closer you get the more stunning they are:
They really do have legs which are too short to perch on the ground, or, in this case, on a boat:
I love this one’s duck-shaped shadow:
It’s great to see how iridescent their plumage is:
The light this evening is so beautiful:
I was wondering why the Swallow is called the Barn Swallow in the USA when I saw this:
It’s a Tree Swallow, Tachycineta bicolor. That explains the need for the word ‘barn’ in Barn Swallow.
Now that’s what I call iridescent:
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