These beautiful little birds are not nesting, they often visit their nesting sites out of season and I was lucky enough to be lakeside in the NSW Riverina district when a small flock flew in, checked the hollow and flew off again.
Tree Martin (Petrochelidon nigricans)
1/2000, f/5.6, ISO 800
Canon 5DsR, Canon 200-400 L IS USM EXT
Catching a Tree Martin in flight made me super happy, and pretty surprised. I love seeing the beautiful detail of its rump and fanned tail feathers.
Tree Martins are about 12cm and weigh about 15g. They’re easily confused with Welcome Swallows and Fairy Martins but have several distinct features. Adult Tree Martins have a russet-brown patch on their foreheads, topped by a blue-black iridescent head and upper back. Their underparts are paler and streaky. In flight their rump patch appears off-white while Fairy Martins have a brighter white rump and Welcome Swallows have no contrasting rump patch. Their tails are also different, fairies’ tails are shorter while Welcome Swallows have distinctly forked tails
Tree Martin (Petrochelidon nigricans)
1/1600, f/6.3, ISO 800
Canon 5DsR, Canon 200-400 L IS USM EXT
Tree Martins are named because of their preference to nest in tree hollows. Sometimes the entrances are too big for comfort so the birds modify the opening using mud. They often live around lakes and wetlands so can easily collect mud from the water’s edge.
The bird on the left in the above image is a youngster that hasn’t yet developed the bolder colours of the adult birds.
The knobbly, rounded burl can be seen in both images above. I liked the look of it from the side so moved into the shallow water at the edge of the lake to take the photograph above.
Tree Martin (Petrochelidon nigricans)
1/2000, f/5.6, ISO 800
Canon 5DsR, Canon 200-400 L IS USM EXT
The image above clearly shows the buff edges of Tree Martin’s dark feathers. They mainly feed by catching insects on the wing but will also forage on the ground, from branches and other surfaces.
I had to prepare lirralirra early this week as I’m due to make a nature photography presentation at the Australian Photographic Society’s annual conference – if you’re there too please come and say hi.
Happy birding
Kim
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Hi Kim. Wow, these are amazing photographs of birds being birds. You’re right, they are exquisite.
Thank you kindly Harry, I was lucky to be there at the right time
Kim. The photo in flight is absolutely exquisite. I don’t comment every time you post, but I love and appreciate your beautiful work. Have fun at the conference. You certainly deserve to be recognised. Sue 😊
Thank you Sue, lovely to hear from you. It’s great that you enjoy the images 🙂
Agreeing with the comments above Kim, you have a wide appreciative audience, some of whom are silent admirers but nonetheless delighted by your work and the joy you bring us each week. Very best of luck in the competition. Alison.
Sometimes I feel a bit invisible Alison, especially as my website isn’t part of a network, so I especially appreciate your encouragement to keep going, thank you, Kim
They are so cute! Very interesting!
Thank you Alyssa 🙂
Once again Kim you are teaching us a lot about birds. Beautiful photos.
Hi Valda, there’s so much to learn isn’t there!
Hi Kim, I have looked at your work for ages without actually commenting however the tree martins are absolutely wonderful and I had to do it.
Well done.
Cheers
PhilB
Thank you for taking the time to comment Phil, I appreciate that, and I’m especially pleased you enjoyed the martins
I hope your presentation goes really, really well and you receive the appreciation you deserve.
And thank you so much for these pint-sized beauties.
Thank you EC. I’ll share a bit about the presentation with the next lirralirra.
These photos show the beautiful detail in an often overlooked bird. I also love the modified nest entrance and tree backdrop.
Thanks Jane. I love being able to capture beautiful details. I had no idea that Tree Martins’ rumps are so exquisite. It’s funny to think of birds renovating the family home.