Glossy Swiftlet

Identification - Collocalia esculenta affinis, glossy swiftlet.

The form filling visit to immigration went well and I was back home by 08:30, imagine that back in the UK, I don't think so!

I decided to take my time, have some breakfast then head up to the blipping grounds, resigned to a bug safari. But, to my amazement, there were three swiftlets (not martins, I discovered after research) having a play. They were lower down the valley than two days ago and the opportunity for the head-on shot was not there.

I did set up for the head-on shot and waited, but soon realized that I was missing some spectacular panning opportunities, as these miniature MiGs were zipping past my head. I folded up the monopod, pre-focused and started panning.

The birds were making roughly a circuit of about 50m diameter and they were fairly easy to follow through the viewfinder and I would snap them as they came past. Obviously most were out of focus or out of frame, but out of the sixty shots, six were very reasonable and some strange noises of excitement emanated from my mouth as I pulled up the pixels onto my screen.

You can actually see a vortex coming off the wing, just like on a jet aircraft, as the sudden change in pressure condenses the moisture out of the humid atmosphere - how cool is that!

It was actually great fun doing the shoot. I thought I was going to get whiplash at one stage and by the end of the session my arms were dropping off as this camera lens combo is rather heavy.

A couple of the farmers came over to look what I was doing. I probably looked quite silly, but they are used to that. When I pulled up a preview and zoomed in, the gasps of "wooaaarhh" were quite gratifying.

Hope you enjoy this shot, but I am sure I will be doing more. The other images can be seen on project Noah.

Dave