They're back...

>>2324381

do you know why kingfishers are called martins in french/spanish?

Ive been trying to find out but I cant find anything

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>>2324729
Nope.

Try /int/.

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>>2324729
Swifts are called "martinets" in french because they migrate around the date of Saint Martin. The term was then historically extended to other species including the kingfisher (possibly because of its similar flying behavior). It was even called "martinet-pêcheur" at first.

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Barn swallows are the most entertaining to watch flyers of any bird species. If peregrine falcons are the dragsters with their top speed stoops, barn swallows are the F1 cars with their "turn on a dime" flight abilities.

Kinda not related, but how do tiny birds survive in freezing, snowy weather?

I love barn swallows. I used to live in these multi-story apartments that had open-air staircases between the floors, and a pair of barn swallows nested in the hallway at the very top floor. I used to go up there and watch them all the time. Their flight is so captivating and entertaining to watch!

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>>2325597
Some fly south.

Others survive because their feathers provide protection from the cold, and because they find places to roost that provide some measure of shelter. Some also huddle together for warmth.

Barn swallows are in the group that head south, though.

Pic related: Baby barn swallow. You can tell because the beak isn't fully black yet, it's fat as fuck, and the tail won't have the long flight feathers developed yet.

>>2325597
Bird metabolisms are so high that most of them stay warm unless the temperature drops well below 0. What limits them is being able to eat enough to keep up that high body temperature in the cold. In places where winter is full of snow and ice, birds that eat insects or hang out around water (I'm looking at you, ducks) have to go migrate someplace warm. Small birds that stick around are normally the ones that can eat seeds or berries.

>>2324381
PNW here, tree swallows are definitely back and I'm hearing scattered reports of violet-greens seen in various areas too. I didn't realize they returned so early but here they are.

I still need to work on telling the difference between a swallow and swift in flight. They all go so damn fast sometimes it's hard to get a good ID.

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>>2325848

We don't get the violet greens here in Texas, but we do have chimney swifts.

Too bad, the V-G's look awesome.

>>2325848
Swifts have stiff wingbeats compared to swallows. Swallows move like they're swimming through the air.

>>2325874
Violet-green Swallows are out in far west Texas. Not that many people live there to see them.

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>>2325848
Swift's have blocked tails instead of the forked tails of swallows, and they don't perch like swallows, but hang off of the side of vertical faces, like cliffs, chimneys, and such.

Pic: Vaux's swift

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Soon enough I'll come face to face with the first clutch of fat little bandits under the eave of my front door. This is my favorite part of the nesting cycle.

>>2326056
The perching part is true, but the tail part is incorrect. A lot of swifts have forked tails and a lot of swallows have square tails (although swallows don't have tail spines like what your pic shows).

Best North American examples I can think for the tails of are White-throated Swift and Cliff Swallow.

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These little guys are getting active too...

>>2326719
>that look in their eyes

lewd

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>>2324381
saving birbs from page 10

>>2328814
The g'damn male mockingbird I've been feeding for the past 5 years has come down with avian pox and is probably not long for this world.

Pisses me off....

As wildlife hobby photog person swallows in-flight are my white whale of picture taking challenges. Difficulty level on getting closeups of them while flying is extreme.

>>2328964

Unless you set up a bait station that releases bugs, I can't imagine how you'd capture a pic while they're zooming up at 200 feet.

Maybe set up somewhere where tractors or mowers are working, as they'll sometimes follow behind and catch the bugs that get jumped.

>>2328964
>>2329160
Swallows often fly low over water or open grassy fields.

Some species nest in colonies and build nests out of mud, and all the birds from a colony will gather mud from the same place.