Barn Swallows, Aerial Darters in Cobalt Blue

Barn swallows (Hirundo rustica) are beautiful aerial darters, skimming low over water and fields, rarely stopping long enough for a photographer to spend any time filming them. I love to watch these cobalt blue birds at the Reservoir in Central Park in the spring, but they don't stop long enough for me to film them. But in 2015 we had barn swallows resting on a snag (no longer there) near the Point on the Lake in Central Park, and in 2017 I've had two stop long enough for me to film on Governors Island. I'll take any view of these blue birds whenever I can! I'll head to Governors Island again soon to try to see more barn swallows, but I wanted to share what I've seen of these birds first!

Barn swallow at the Point, Central Park, May 6, 2015

The Filming the Feathers video has some of the original sounds heard in May 2015 at the Point on a snag over the Lake, plus music by Béla Bartók (Romanian folk dances, arranged for recorders and performed by Papalin). I slowed down the video of the swallows darting over the water at Governors Island.

Barn swallow, Governors Island, May 12, 2017

These photos are from May 6 and 8, 2015, at the Point, Central Park.

A Blue Grosbeak Dines on Bees

Birders were abuzz when a blue grosbeak (Passerina caerulea) was reported in early May at the beehives in Battery Park (at the southern tip of Manhattan). I visited the BeeVillage on May 10 and 11 and was able to get some video for a Filming the Feathers entry. The bird made many appearances, but always jumped around and flitted under and around the beehives. Only three photos came out, and you have them here (including one on the video).

Blue grosbeak, Battery Park, May 11, 2017

The video is set to one of the London Trios of Franz Joseph Haydn. The bird was very, very active, and very, very difficult to film! I left the video a bit jumpy to show the skittishness of this little guy.

Blue grosbeak, Battery Park, May 11, 2017

BeeVillage, Battery Park, Lower Manhattan, May 2017

Tree Swallow Aerialists

These tree swallows (Tachycineta bicolor) are amazing aerialists. I watched them zip around the Jamaica Bay Wildlife Refuge on May 14 and 16, darting out over the trees and water, going in and out of the nesting boxes, perching occasionally on the boxes or on refuge signs, and mating on a tree branch. They are amazing songbirds, but unfortunately I didn't have the sound equipment to record their songs.

“There is no sorrow like the murmur of their wings
There is no choir like their song
There is no power like the freedom of their flight
While the swallows roam alone”

— A Swallow Song, Richard Farina

Tree Swallow, Jamaica Bay Wildlife Refuge, May 16, 2017

I set the Filming the Feathers video to music by Béla Bartók (Romanian Folk Dances, Sz. 56, arranged for recorders, performed by Papalin) and Pyotr Il'yich Tchaikovsky (the Scherzo Pizzicato movement of Symphony No. 4, F Minor, Op.36, credited to European Archives), both pieces obtained from MusOpen.org, a royalty-free music source.

“Even the sparrow has found a home,
And the swallow a nest for herself,
Where she may lay her young—”

— Psalms 84

I was able to photograph these beautiful blue birds on both days at the refuge.

“True hope is swift, and flies with swallow’s wings.
Kings it makes gods, and meaner creatures kings.”

— William Shakespeare, Richard III, Act 5, Sc. ii