Stephen Barnard once again escaped from the Paradise of Idaho to go fishing—in Florida. He sent us some photos from both places:
I photographed three species of swallow in-flight within 2 minutes over Loving Creek. (Check the EXIFs.) Barn Swallow (Hirundo rustica), Violet-Green Swallow (Tachycineta thalassina), and Tree Swallow (Tachycineta bicolor). They were feeding on midges. [JAC: I’m not sure I’ve got them in order, so readers can help out.]
Swainson’s Hawk (Buteo swainsoni):
Black-headed Grosbeak (Pheucticus melanocephalus), through my window. A lifer for me.
Bonnethead Shark (Sphyrna tiburo) I caught in Florida.
Gar (Belone belone), on a length of pink egg yarn caught in its teeth. No hook. That’s my fishing Buddy, Willi, hands-down the best fisherman I know, fresh or salt.
@Stephen… I think you’re mistaken about free will but I don’t think there’s a single photo that you’ve mis-taken!
Always great!
Thanks for the compliment.
I don’t have any firm position on free will. I do, however, get exercised when people who deny free will use language that entails free will.
It is the language we’ve inherited complete with warts and ancient false assumptions. If you sneeze and I say “bless you” it doesn’t really mean I’m a theist.
But this probably isn’t the page for such ruminations. We have the other one for that!
Fantastic photos!
Those are freshwater longnose gar, Lepisosteus osseus. Belone is an unrelated saltwater species.
The Barn Swallow is a new species for this location and, together with the grosbeak, brings the Aubrey Spring Ranch list to 97. I also get Cliff Swallows and Northern Rough-winged Swallows.
That is certainly a new grosbeak to me and different than any around here. Would imagine the shark is some job on light tackle.
My lifetime bird thrillah was this one I saw in Cambridge, Ontario.
https://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Rose-breasted_Grosbeak/id
The photo *I* snapped was no good, hastily taken from behind a dirty kitchen window.
Your photos are stunning, Stephen. Thanks for faithfully sharing your work with us!
Stephen,
Beautiful swallow photos! I live in western Montana and just this past weekend was out at a wildlife refuge watching hundreds of swallows feeding. I saw all six species zipping around that occur in this area: Barn, Tree, Cliff, Bank, Violet green, and Northern rough winged.
I can’t imagine trying to photograph one. Nice work!
Amazing photos…..
Lovely stuff Stephen, thanks for sharing them.
Love the barn swallow!
It would be nice to have your life, Stephen. Nature, photography, fishing, & the amazing d*g…