(C) Daily Kos This story was originally published by Daily Kos and is unaltered. . . . . . . . . . . Dawn Chorus Obsession 2023 [1] ['This Content Is Not Subject To Review Daily Kos Staff Prior To Publication.'] Date: 2023-10-22 This year has been different. Dawn Chorus and Daily Bucket authors have echoed that sentiment and I could not be more agreeable. Natural phenomena colluded to provide serious setbacks at my place here in the Flint Hills of Kansas. Regardless, my priorities remained unchanged. I persisted to document the activities of my local bands of Swallows to the best of my ability, catastrophes be damned. Swallow behavior is my overall primary bird interest. Improving capture of definition for Swallows in flight is my intent. Capturing that one click at a time dream still shot of a Swallow’s Shining Moment is my obsession. I had someone ask me why my Flickr photostream is packed with Swallow photos since Swallows are just “common birds”. My response is that while Swallows are numerous and occupy large areas of our country, they are anything but common. Barn Swallows, in particular, possess skillsets and social behavior that set them apart from any other bird. Moreover, since they live here to share this place for about 6 months of the year, I have the opportunity to record intimate details ‘common observers’ might overlook. EXAMPLE BEHAVIORAL BUCKET (Backyard Science): www.dailykos.com/... This year was different. I will go ahead and relieve you of any suspense that I raised the bar of Shining Moment shots I got last year. That did not happen. Check out last year’s Obsession 2022 edition to review. My choice for tops in 2022 is one I will likely never be able to replicate, let alone improve on. www.dailykos.com/… Before I show you what Shining Moments came my way this year I’ll share what I perceive to be my improvement in the area of higher def BIF Swallows. I should add that I had a great deal of difficulty compiling this story as I took so many photos, and liked so many of those, I simply could not determine which ones were best of the best in order to get this diary down to a low enough number. So I ended up just picking through those still on my desktop, adding them to the draft, and calling it a day. SWALLOWS IN THE AIR (random selection) Any picture you want to enlarge just right click on it, open in new tab, carefully replace the word large in the URL with original, and you can make it way too big. Multi-colored lights reflecting on the water surrounding this Cliff Swallow buzzing a concerned looking turtle caught my eye. Cliff Swallows spend a lot of time here in large numbers. They nest under the river bridge about a half mile away. My target bird, Main Papa, clearing all airspace over the pond. Sharing space. Consider the air cleared. The master in action. Sometimes you just have to take the time to notice all that is around you. Getting more than one at a time is a big bonus. If two is a bonus four is double bonus! Catching Main Papa in a special light makes for a great day. If you think a lot of these pics look like the same bird, you’re right! Main Papa is my target bird. When he is in the air I have eyes for no other. A beautiful flyer. A beautiful flyer. A beautiful flyer. Main Papa, my target bird, rules this roost. Lord of the summer sky. Shining Moments of 2023 I mentioned impediments to having a good year for capturing Shining Moment shots. One of those is that we have been enduring drought here since last fall. My pond in now a puddle. Surface reduction due to drought was one deterrent to birds even attempting to dip. You can see clearly the normal full line at lower edge of vegetation growing on the face of the dam. That gives a good idea of normal surface area compared to present. I estimate loss of 4-5 feet of depth. A problem that causes is the remaining water heats up. Who wants a hot bath when temps get to 106 degrees? Searching for a silver lining to the conditions is that with the pond low I had less area to cover with my zoom lens. That is a nice advantage when dealing with birds as fast as these are. Right when Shining Moment action should have been reaching it’s peak my place was targeted by a tornado. I am sad to say I fear my local Barn Swallow tribe suffered major losses. They had successfully hatched two broods before the storm and numbers had swollen to 40-50 birds. Afterward I never saw more than eight. Those eight survivors, including Main Papa, remained to raise the last two nests of babies who had weathered the storm on ground level inside the main barn. I feel obligated, and honored, to express my gratitude for the opportunities the survivors provided to me in order to get what I got. Any lack of greatness in these photos of them is strictly on me, not them. I will never forget Main Mama, Particular, Mort, and all the many others missing in action following the storm. While sitting on my bucket July 14 hoping for some Shining Moment action some of my Swallows came to perch on the power line right overhead. Barn Swallows on the power line right over my head. They were conversing and periodically looking down at me as though inquiring if I understood the message. After a time I noticed everything became silent. It brought to mind the axiom “calm before the storm”. I got up and headed for the house. As soon as I got up the Swallows made a beeline for the barn. Large drops of rain began to pelt me as I climbed the porch steps. As soon as I got inside the door fierce winds attacked. I watched through the windows in my back and front doors, unaware I was witnessing at close quarters the eighth tornado of my lifetime. Heavy wind driven rain and swirling debris shielded the funnel from view. I cannot tell you how long it lasted, but I estimate it was about one minute to cover the approximately 1/8 mile of the horse pastures and our yard. When it was over I saw the debris covered that entire area. Disaster to Restored. ZOOM bottom bar left to right. Photo timeline is first two at left July 14 to the last one at right second week in Oct. I was hard at work the entire duration doing cleanup, salvaging every bit usable, to completing what you see in the last pic. The work is far from done but both stories of my barn are once again in usable condition. Curiously, though completely surrounded by the storm, the upper barn was unaffected, though damage was immense to the surrounding trees. After the storm the number of resident Barn Swallows was clearly decreased. Thereafter I saw eight at most. Shining Moments were few and far between. While waiting for the insurance money to arrive I sat at the pond to take advantage of whatever opportunity ventured my way. A Barn Swallow supervises a Cliff Swallow’s attempt to create waterworks. Cartoonish Cliff Swallow does it’s drag routine. You can see by the waterworks it has used tail, wings, and beak to make his impression. This Cliff Swallow is going straight vertical after it’s dip, a not so usual dismount move. Cliff Swallow Shining Moment. Cliff Swallows became such a presence at the pond I got as many pics of them as I did of Barn Swallows. So I thought I better begin by giving them the airtime they deserve. Now comes the stars of the show... A double dipper! Lots of boxes checked with this one but too much wing speed fuzz. A Shining Moment contender. Close, but no cigar, for a near perfect pose. A serious contender. Only Main Papa can be this serious of a contender. Now we’re down to the nitty gritty… I wasted hours and hours monkeying around in processing trying to improve the focus of my bird but the camera was just too unforgiving for my skill level. Still, this one gets the nod for my best Shining Moment composition shot of the year. By way of attrition this one settles in as my best Shining Moment shot for 2023. Not good enough to ZOOM but a little larger is OK. LOL My Swallows vacated the first part of September, although while on a building material pickup trip I did see a nice band riding the power line on Wagon Trail East early in October. So now I’m trying to outlast the Vultures currently dominating our airspace hoping for the Hawks and Eagles to return in force. But who knows? This year has been different… I know many of you prefer a lot of variety. That’s why our groups have such an excellent comment section. Carry on my friends. Capt. BLI wanted me to remind you of the upcoming Dawn Chorus schedule. If anyone would like to claim a spot, please let us know in the comments. Thank you all. 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