Featured Feathered Friend: Barn Swallow

To continue with the hype from my last post from Finley NWR, I have a FFF (Featured Feathered Friend) for you. Or perhaps, it’s a FFFF (Finley Featured Feathered Friend). Well, no matter how many F’s I include, all I can say is that I got pics of one gorgeous bird. 

On the stretch of drive leaving the refuge on our first trip, an ever-so-tame Barn Swallow landed on a wooden fence just feet away from us and stayed for quite a while as we reveled in its proximity to us. These aerial acrobats seem to almost always be on the wing, and when they do land, usually they’re a bit far away on reeds or spindly branches on a tiny island in a lake or marsh. Or maybe they’re a little high above us on utility wires so that all you see is their belly, or maybe just their silhouettes with their prominent forked tails lending their ID. 

If you recall what I said about swallows in my previous post, in our area, these guys do not minding landing close. As evident from these shots, I wasn’t kidding. This Barn Swallow was especially ridiculously close. This one just plopped right in front of us and even let me inch closer and closer to get these amazing photos. I even thought for a moment that the Barn Swallow would let me have it perch on my finger like Snow White does so easily. Alas, it did not perch upon my finger, but it’s ok. I have these photos to adore its striking metallic blue and chestnutty brown colors that make it the gorgeous specimen that it is.