A lazy and relaxed Sunday

This Sunday has been lazy even if I switched to summer tires on the car and took a short photo trip to Stora Amundsön.

I will not burden anyone with all the small details but I am pleased to at least have produced a couple of okay photos of the Barn Swallow‘s that flew like fighter pilots over the water catching insects. They are so quick and agile that it’s almost impossible to get focus on the small birds. Your best chance is to find one that flies towards you from a distance so you give the camera time to focus on the correct thing. You also need to have a good contrast between the bird and the background if you want to raise your chance of success.

So it takes time and it will make you wonder if you actually have any knowledge about photography. It’s not easy but it is doable if you have patience, and some luck I would guess. You also need a high shutter speed so good light is premium.

Barn Swallow at Stora Amundön lazy — A drinking Barn Swallow 120506

Look at the picture. If you look closely you´ll see water drops and that is because the bird just has taken a sip in flight.

It was also nice to see the juvenile Common Redshank that seems to be resident here. It wasn´t as shy as last time. All of the bird photos are taken with hard back light so I have made some adjustments in Photoshop to get ok readings from the shadows.

It’s nice that the Barn Swallows have arrived and I would suspect that the Common Sand Martins is back at Hökällan now. I will go there next week to see if they have arrived and maybe if the Common Kestrel is there hunting them.

Enjoy the pictures from today!!!