Photobombed By The Birds

[sm4him]

I was on my way up to my favorite spot this past Saturday, when I saw a great egret sitting in a tree that was partially submerged. The tree was one of the few around here that has started to change colors, so the white egret against the fall leaves was quite striking.
All of a sudden, this huge flurry of activity happened--HUNDREDS of swallows emerged from the tree, flitted about for a minute then landed again.

I stopped to take some pictures. I focused on the egret first, figuring it could take off at any minute.

1. This was my first attempt at the Egret photo. Might have turned out okay, if the swallows hadn't decided to photobomb it!


2. I did manage to get a shot of it WITHOUT the oof swallows all over it:



Once the Egret took off, I zeroed in on the swallows.

3.


4.


5.


6.



As always, C&C, general comments and witty banter are encouraged and appreciated!

 

[ColorfulMonochrome]

The looks on the swallows faces are priceless. It's like they're saying, "Oh NOW you want a photo of us, now that HE'S gone." Lol.

Great photos though!

 

[tirediron]

Nice set Sharon!

 

[JacaRanda]

Wow, I could never get one of those swallows to sit still.

I really like the dreamy look of the second egret. It's bill looks rather long.

Beak?

 

[baturn]

Very nice. The swallows are very photogenic although they never sit still around here. Any way, who doesn't like a bird that eats flying insects?

 

[GDHLEWIS]

Nice set, but utterly loving number 5. Simple yet effective

 

[grafxman]

Great photos! Swallows can be very hard to photograph. They don't care much for sitting around.

 

[sm4him]

Thanks for the comments, everyone. Several mentioned how hard it is to get swallows to sit still--I've always had the same experience, but I think the fact that it was so early in the morning, AND there were so many of them contributed to being able to get them to "pose" for a portrait. 300 is a very conservative estimate; after counting something like 67 in one photo I took, and knowing how many more there were, I'm thinking there may have been as many as 500.
It was surprising how long some of them would sit. As soon as five or six took off, though, all of a sudden, they'd ALL take off and go everywhere for a minute and then settle back down for another minute until the cycle started again. It was really fun to watch.

The looks on the swallows faces are priceless. It's like they're saying, "Oh NOW you want a photo of us, now that HE'S gone." Lol.

Great photos though!

That's exactly how they looked! :lmao: