Wait, Lina. Are you saying that you're commenting BEFORE watching the movie? That might be a first in my experience. But whatever, I'm happy to welcome you to my channel. I have videos on just about any common bird you'd like to learn about, so I hope you'll browse. Swallows are among my favorites. I just can't get enough of these agile birds.
@@JoAlwoodBIRDSANDTHENSOME oops!😳I should have said first time here commenting! I watched one previous video (and subcribed) on how female cardinals choose their mate. Their song is beautiful.🎵 😍 I will be catching up in the big screen 📺☺️
@@linak7155 A-h-h. Thanks for the clarification, Lina. And yes, the big screen is how you ought to watch these swallows. Even then, they'll challenge your eyeballs to keep up.
There you are, Audra! I was just thinking yesterday, "I haven't heard from Audra yet." I was also thinking yesterday that bats have the same erratic flight patterns as swallows. And as for their endurance, YES! It tires me out to think about all that activity--which is why it's so wonderful to watch it and admire it.
@@audra1976oliver I'm glad to assure you that I appreciate your regular viewing and dependable commenting. See you in three weeks when I'll post a movie about how butterflies fly. It's gonna surprise you. 😉
And "as always, I thank you", Laurie for commenting. I enjoy your observations. You're the only that I can remember commenting, for example, on how the visuals match the narrative.
Thank you, Laurie. I imagine that the timing makes the film work for viewers but that hardly any of them notice it consciously. Obviously, you've been paying attention to it, and it's gratifying to hear that from you..
Great video Jo. Swallows are one of my favorites...didn't know they could drink while flying...wow! 😅 Beautiful images and very informative...keep these coming 👍
Hi, Letty, good to hear from you. And thanks for your encouragement. In fact, now that I've posted this movie, I have no excuse to go out filming the swallows. Boo hoo. Because they're one of my favorites too.
I love to sit on my deck in the evenings in the summer and watch the cliff swallows dart about. I often wonder where they put so many insects, they must go back to their nests stuffed. When the sun goes down and I see the first bats it’s like a single to them that it’s time to go home because they seem to just disappear. Thanks for a wonderful video and like always for letting us listen to your beautiful voice.
I didn't know how late in the evening any of them hunt because we don't get them in our yard. We do like to sit out on the patio in the summer, though, and we often see a bat or two. Love that! And it strikes me that the bats have a similar erratic way of flying. A swallow I haven't seen in decades is the first one I ever remember seeing. As a young woman, I liked floating a small river a couple of hours from here, and a few times we saw bank swallows swirling near their nests in the river bank. I wasn't a bird watcher then, but I found them thrilling. Five decades later, I wish I weren't too decrepit to go back there and see them again. Your comment got me to reminiscing---something I notice this film has prompted in you and other viewers. I've never had such a high proportion of comments be about what my viewers have loved seeing themselves. I've enjoyed their observations, just as I enjoyed what you wrote: "When the sun goes down and I see the first bats it’s like a single to them that it’s time to go home because they seem to just disappear." Oh, and thanks for the compliment on my beautiful voice.
@@JoAlwoodBIRDSANDTHENSOME - I know you're a Bird Lady, but a Jo Alwood video on my favorite flying mammal would be great. I spent 3 days with the Bat Lady of Sussex and I fell in love with them, talk about a fascinating little creature.... 🦇♥
@@SimplyGobsmacked We sometimes sit on the patio on summer evenings and watch an occasional bat fling itself around up in the sky. But there's no way I could film them. They're too fast, too far away, and too hard to capture anyway in the lighting of dusk. I could only dream of the kind of equipment that might succeed at the task.
Thank you for making this nice video. I see Swallows flying along, and chasing insects, at a river that's situated in a gorge. I think they are Cliff Swallows. I managed to get a couple of pictures of them. They move so fast, that photographing them in that gorge is difficult for me. The trees and cliffs create a lot of shade. It is wonderful place with very nice scenery.
Swallows are a challenge to film or photograph because they're not only fast, they're erratic. So believe me when I say I know what you mean. If those are Cliff Swallows you're seeing, you might be able to see the buff patch just above their tails. That'd be your best chance at IDing them. Or you might see them go for their nests. They build mud nests under overhangs. Of course so do Barn Swallows. And I'm betting you have no chance to get down into the gorge and look up at the kind of nests they go to. Bottom line, I guess, is enjoy them, whatever they are.
Great video. The footage was amazing. I have attempted to photograph swallows in flight and have rarely been successful. My best attempts have been with Purple Martins, probably because they are the largest swallow I have had the opportunity to photograph.
Oh, trust me! I know how tricky they all are to photograph and film. I film them at their nests most of the time, perhaps without the nest in the picture. That way, I know where they will be, and they haven't built up enough speed to throw the focus off too much. You might notice that I have more Purple Martin footage in this video than footage of other swallows, and that's because I also find them the easiest to get crisp footage of. Anyway, thank for praising the footage I got.
Over the beginning of COVID, back in my childhood home when I started birding, there was a colony of barn swallows that would begin congregating in the spring. Walking my dog in the later afternoons, I'd see their flitting about the drying-up ponds next to my house. Come late spring I'd see them queued up around the edges of what little water there was in the pond. They'd have their wings propped up, collecting dabbles of mud with their mouth, flying back and forth between these puddles of mud and the crevices under the bridge that linked to the little city-trail that followed the river. Come summer on my walks I'd hear more and more of their sweet liquid-metallic twittering, as the nestlings tucked into those mud nests under the bridge cried out for food. And I'd see the swirling tumbling flight of their parents--a flight that looked both frantic but perfectly calm--silhouetting the light from the orange afternoon sun, bringing food from out of the air back to their little nestlings. My dog and I would sit and watch in the shade for half hours at a time. They made those memories of those seasons so much fonder.
That was a sweet description of fond memories, and I enjoyed reading it. You have impressive powers of description: "flight that looked both frantic but perfectly calm". That's more than accurate; it's a fine observation. So if anybody would appreciate the two movies I've done about Barn Swallows, it would be you. One is about them nesting--ua-cam.com/video/HSAsrIcVE1g/v-deo.htmlsi=PCr_YCW4jYTQCWI9--and the other is about their agile flight--ua-cam.com/video/LBWuliAxypY/v-deo.htmlsi=FMi1sCKg6jc5_JpC
Thank you, Riverbender, and I am well aware of what a huge fan you are. I have to admit, though, that my granddaughters (in their early 20s) ARE bored by what I do. I've watched their eyes glaze over when they're looking at one of my videos. 😏
I never knew purple martins were in the swallow family and yet their "nests" are so different. I suppose martins are like city-dwellers, with their apartments. My Uncle Harold made an amazing birdhouse for them and I used to lay on the grass and watch them come and go for hours. Good memories. Really interesting about the rotating wings - and they have shoulders like defensive linemen! This will make them easier for me to pick out when they're perched. They are such fun to watch when they fly, and the slo-mo footage here was amazing, Jo. All of the photography was - so close-up and clear - did you shoot all this video? It's so well done. I rewound and watched the slo-mo a few times because it's simply beautiful to see. Thanks again for a great video! Always informative, always fun to watch.
Shoot! Wish I thought of that defensive lineman idea, I’d have used it in the movie. I just put up about how swallows fly. Yes, I took all this footage. I have occasionally in the past borrowed footage, but I haven’t needed to do that for, I don’t know, a couple of years now. And some of this footage is in that most recent one about how swallows fly. I enjoy knowing that you are browsing in my older movies. I also like hearing your memories of lying in the grass watching the purple martins. I would have liked to have such memories from my own childhood. Anyway, nice to hear from you again so soon… And keep browsing.
Years ago I had 2 barn swallows in the house along with my parakeet. I first thing I noticed was the swallows fly silent compared to parakeets. The second was the swallows love landing on picture frames and parakeets land on any high place they can find but the least place was picture frames. Does anyone know these facts?
Their flying technology reminds a bit of bats how they flutter around. Great video as always and most of all I'm learning while enjoying. Now if school would have been like that back in the day.
Yeah, I get the resemblance you're talking about. I think bats are even crazier, but I might be wrong. It makes me smile to hear that you're enjoying learning from my videos. In fact, I'm a retired high school English teacher, but trust me that my classes were never this much fun. Not that I didn't love my subject matter, but I had to keep their attention for an hour five days a week. Can't be done! I post a four or five minute movie once a month. I can be entertaining given that much time to prepare and that short a time period to fill. Do you agree then with Paul Simon: "when I look back on all the crap I learned in high school...."?
@@JoAlwoodBIRDSANDTHENSOME somehow you teachers were a lot sneakier than you led on to be. I still somehow managed unknowingly walked away with some knowledge. Now turning that knowledge into wisdom was a whole different matter. I hope you got the info on the solar fountains and a reference video I left on another reply somewhere.
I didn't find any info on solar powered hummingbird fountains. So let me just ask you: Are there any serious drawbacks to them? Are they reasonably priced? Easy to assemble? Appealing to the hummingbirds?
😍 it's in time one of my art work is a swallow art vintage textile turned into mini art quilt . after seeing on pbs the flock of swallows in flight against yellow ☀️ red sky twist & turns to eat in mid air something l not forgotten yet as another pbs showed a cave swallows how they build their nest & a prized resource by locals in their cuisine or to sell for 🤑🤑climb on narrow long 🪜 💰 tied around waist or over one shoulder to gather this gel like in gelatin. 🥰 the river walks ar certain time of the day maybe twice that day flying to catch a meal The 🖖 continues with you & yours creative film 🎥 of these treasures of the natural 🌎🌍 🗽🇺🇸🦅024🐉
I can see by your description " in flight against yellow dun red sky twist & turns to eat in mid air " that you appreciate these wonderful birds, Kirsten.
Every bird has a flying level from the earth - Low level < 30 m - 30 m < medium < 500 m - high level >500 And the swollows are very special birds because they are Low level and medium level birds Its so hard to fly in Low level with its flying duration this is needs more energy to do that but its body and structure makes that very easy
Hello once again. I sent a friend request on Facebook. It will say Rad Radster on it. From there I can send you the links if you are interested. Cheers!
![Swallows Have Hawk Eyes [NARRATED]](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/foA86HRD_Uo/mqdefault.jpg)
![Swallows Have Hawk Eyes [NARRATED]](/img/tr.png)
Hello! First time here! I am very drawn to birds of all kinds, especially the smaller kind🐦I am here to learn and enjoy! 😊 Now for the swallow!
Wait, Lina. Are you saying that you're commenting BEFORE watching the movie? That might be a first in my experience. But whatever, I'm happy to welcome you to my channel. I have videos on just about any common bird you'd like to learn about, so I hope you'll browse. Swallows are among my favorites. I just can't get enough of these agile birds.
@@JoAlwoodBIRDSANDTHENSOME oops!😳I should have said first time here commenting! I watched one previous video (and subcribed) on how female cardinals choose their mate. Their song is beautiful.🎵 😍 I will be catching up in the big screen 📺☺️
@@linak7155 A-h-h. Thanks for the clarification, Lina. And yes, the big screen is how you ought to watch these swallows. Even then, they'll challenge your eyeballs to keep up.
Thanks, Jo! As always, very informative and the footage is amazing.
You're welcome, Wendy. And as always, it's good to hear from you. I had a lotta fun putting this one together.
Love watching them. They almost look like bats off in a distance. Very strong birds. I'd be so tired from all that action!
There you are, Audra! I was just thinking yesterday, "I haven't heard from Audra yet." I was also thinking yesterday that bats have the same erratic flight patterns as swallows. And as for their endurance, YES! It tires me out to think about all that activity--which is why it's so wonderful to watch it and admire it.
@JoAlwoodBIRDSANDTHENSOME thank you for thinking of me! Makes me feel good. Yes I thought their flight patterns were similar. Good to hear from you! 🙂
@@audra1976oliver I'm glad to assure you that I appreciate your regular viewing and dependable commenting. See you in three weeks when I'll post a movie about how butterflies fly. It's gonna surprise you. 😉
@@JoAlwoodBIRDSANDTHENSOME can't wait!
Wonderful video! I love the narration.
Glad to hear you liked it, coyote. Thanks for commenting.
Oh Jo- Such a sweet mixture of "muscle and grace"! An engineering miracle. As always, I thank you for this treat, served up just right!!
And "as always, I thank you", Laurie for commenting. I enjoy your observations. You're the only that I can remember commenting, for example, on how the visuals match the narrative.
@@JoAlwoodBIRDSANDTHENSOME I marvel at the editing. Timing is perfect, so acutely done.
Thank you, Laurie. I imagine that the timing makes the film work for viewers but that hardly any of them notice it consciously. Obviously, you've been paying attention to it, and it's gratifying to hear that from you..
Great video Jo. Swallows are one of my favorites...didn't know they could drink while flying...wow! 😅 Beautiful images and very informative...keep these coming 👍
Hi, Letty, good to hear from you. And thanks for your encouragement. In fact, now that I've posted this movie, I have no excuse to go out filming the swallows. Boo hoo. Because they're one of my favorites too.
@@JoAlwoodBIRDSANDTHENSOME You're welcome. Just wanted you to know that your videos bring joy .
@@lettymatias5572 Good. And hearing that brings me joy.
I love to sit on my deck in the evenings in the summer and watch the cliff swallows dart about. I often wonder where they put so many insects, they must go back to their nests stuffed.
When the sun goes down and I see the first bats it’s like a single to them that it’s time to go home because they seem to just disappear.
Thanks for a wonderful video and like always for letting us listen to your beautiful voice.
I didn't know how late in the evening any of them hunt because we don't get them in our yard. We do like to sit out on the patio in the summer, though, and we often see a bat or two. Love that! And it strikes me that the bats have a similar erratic way of flying. A swallow I haven't seen in decades is the first one I ever remember seeing. As a young woman, I liked floating a small river a couple of hours from here, and a few times we saw bank swallows swirling near their nests in the river bank. I wasn't a bird watcher then, but I found them thrilling. Five decades later, I wish I weren't too decrepit to go back there and see them again. Your comment got me to reminiscing---something I notice this film has prompted in you and other viewers. I've never had such a high proportion of comments be about what my viewers have loved seeing themselves. I've enjoyed their observations, just as I enjoyed what you wrote: "When the sun goes down and I see the first bats it’s like a single to them that it’s time to go home because they seem to just disappear."
Oh, and thanks for the compliment on my beautiful voice.
@@JoAlwoodBIRDSANDTHENSOME - I know you're a Bird Lady, but a Jo Alwood video on my favorite flying mammal would be great. I spent 3 days with the Bat Lady of Sussex and I fell in love with them, talk about a fascinating little creature.... 🦇♥
@@SimplyGobsmacked We sometimes sit on the patio on summer evenings and watch an occasional bat fling itself around up in the sky. But there's no way I could film them. They're too fast, too far away, and too hard to capture anyway in the lighting of dusk. I could only dream of the kind of equipment that might succeed at the task.
@@JoAlwoodBIRDSANDTHENSOME - It's a nice thought though. I think you could make any subject interesting.
Ah, well then, maybe I will try making movies about grass growing and paint drying. It would be a challenge to make those interesting.😉
Thank you for making this nice video. I see Swallows flying along, and chasing insects, at a river that's situated in a gorge. I think they are Cliff Swallows. I managed to get a couple of pictures of them. They move so fast, that photographing them in that gorge is difficult for me. The trees and cliffs create a lot of shade. It is wonderful place with very nice scenery.
Swallows are a challenge to film or photograph because they're not only fast, they're erratic. So believe me when I say I know what you mean. If those are Cliff Swallows you're seeing, you might be able to see the buff patch just above their tails. That'd be your best chance at IDing them. Or you might see them go for their nests. They build mud nests under overhangs. Of course so do Barn Swallows. And I'm betting you have no chance to get down into the gorge and look up at the kind of nests they go to. Bottom line, I guess, is enjoy them, whatever they are.
Great video. The footage was amazing.
I have attempted to photograph swallows in flight and have rarely been successful. My best attempts have been with Purple Martins, probably because they are the largest swallow I have had the opportunity to photograph.
Oh, trust me! I know how tricky they all are to photograph and film. I film them at their nests most of the time, perhaps without the nest in the picture. That way, I know where they will be, and they haven't built up enough speed to throw the focus off too much. You might notice that I have more Purple Martin footage in this video than footage of other swallows, and that's because I also find them the easiest to get crisp footage of. Anyway, thank for praising the footage I got.
Thank you.
My pleasure, Geraldine, and thanks for commenting.
Over the beginning of COVID, back in my childhood home when I started birding, there was a colony of barn swallows that would begin congregating in the spring. Walking my dog in the later afternoons, I'd see their flitting about the drying-up ponds next to my house. Come late spring I'd see them queued up around the edges of what little water there was in the pond. They'd have their wings propped up, collecting dabbles of mud with their mouth, flying back and forth between these puddles of mud and the crevices under the bridge that linked to the little city-trail that followed the river. Come summer on my walks I'd hear more and more of their sweet liquid-metallic twittering, as the nestlings tucked into those mud nests under the bridge cried out for food. And I'd see the swirling tumbling flight of their parents--a flight that looked both frantic but perfectly calm--silhouetting the light from the orange afternoon sun, bringing food from out of the air back to their little nestlings. My dog and I would sit and watch in the shade for half hours at a time. They made those memories of those seasons so much fonder.
That was a sweet description of fond memories, and I enjoyed reading it. You have impressive powers of description: "flight that looked both frantic but perfectly calm". That's more than accurate; it's a fine observation. So if anybody would appreciate the two movies I've done about Barn Swallows, it would be you. One is about them nesting--ua-cam.com/video/HSAsrIcVE1g/v-deo.htmlsi=PCr_YCW4jYTQCWI9--and the other is about their agile flight--ua-cam.com/video/LBWuliAxypY/v-deo.htmlsi=FMi1sCKg6jc5_JpC
Thanks for sharing that memory. I loved reading it, and I felt like I was there experiencing it with you. You have a gift for words.
Thank you for this video. Swallows are so beautiful, some of my favorite birds.
Oh yes, they're some of my favorites too. This makes three films I've done about them out of the last dozen.
Dear Jo, you present amazing "propaganda" for those who would dismiss critters as boring. I am a huge fan. Thank you.
Thank you, Riverbender, and I am well aware of what a huge fan you are. I have to admit, though, that my granddaughters (in their early 20s) ARE bored by what I do. I've watched their eyes glaze over when they're looking at one of my videos. 😏
I never knew purple martins were in the swallow family and yet their "nests" are so different. I suppose martins are like city-dwellers, with their apartments. My Uncle Harold made an amazing birdhouse for them and I used to lay on the grass and watch them come and go for hours. Good memories. Really interesting about the rotating wings - and they have shoulders like defensive linemen! This will make them easier for me to pick out when they're perched. They are such fun to watch when they fly, and the slo-mo footage here was amazing, Jo. All of the photography was - so close-up and clear - did you shoot all this video? It's so well done. I rewound and watched the slo-mo a few times because it's simply beautiful to see. Thanks again for a great video! Always informative, always fun to watch.
Shoot! Wish I thought of that defensive lineman idea, I’d have used it in the movie. I just put up about how swallows fly. Yes, I took all this footage. I have occasionally in the past borrowed footage, but I haven’t needed to do that for, I don’t know, a couple of years now. And some of this footage is in that most recent one about how swallows fly. I enjoy knowing that you are browsing in my older movies. I also like hearing your memories of lying in the grass watching the purple martins. I would have liked to have such memories from my own childhood. Anyway, nice to hear from you again so soon… And keep browsing.
Years ago I had 2 barn swallows in the house along with my parakeet. I first thing I noticed was the swallows fly silent compared to parakeets. The second was the swallows love landing on picture frames and parakeets land on any high place they can find but the least place was picture frames. Does anyone know these facts?
Those are interesting observations, but they're news to me. I've not read that anywhere as I research my swallow movies.
Their flying technology reminds a bit of bats how they flutter around. Great video as always and most of all I'm learning while enjoying. Now if school would have been like that back in the day.
Yeah, I get the resemblance you're talking about. I think bats are even crazier, but I might be wrong. It makes me smile to hear that you're enjoying learning from my videos. In fact, I'm a retired high school English teacher, but trust me that my classes were never this much fun. Not that I didn't love my subject matter, but I had to keep their attention for an hour five days a week. Can't be done! I post a four or five minute movie once a month. I can be entertaining given that much time to prepare and that short a time period to fill. Do you agree then with Paul Simon: "when I look back on all the crap I learned in high school...."?
@@JoAlwoodBIRDSANDTHENSOME somehow you teachers were a lot sneakier than you led on to be. I still somehow managed unknowingly walked away with some knowledge. Now turning that knowledge into wisdom was a whole different matter.
I hope you got the info on the solar fountains and a reference video I left on another reply somewhere.
I didn't find any info on solar powered hummingbird fountains. So let me just ask you: Are there any serious drawbacks to them? Are they reasonably priced? Easy to assemble? Appealing to the hummingbirds?
Thanks Jo.
You’re welcome, Christina. It’s nice to know that you’re out there watching and enjoying.
😍 it's in time one of my art work is a swallow art vintage textile turned into mini art quilt . after seeing on pbs the flock of swallows in flight against yellow ☀️ red sky twist & turns to eat in mid air something l not forgotten yet as another pbs showed a cave swallows how they build their nest & a prized resource by locals in their cuisine or to sell for 🤑🤑climb on narrow long 🪜 💰 tied around waist or over one shoulder to gather this gel like in gelatin.
🥰 the river walks ar certain time of the day maybe twice that day flying to catch a meal
The 🖖 continues with you & yours creative film 🎥 of these treasures of the natural 🌎🌍
🗽🇺🇸🦅024🐉
I can see by your description " in flight against yellow dun red sky twist & turns to eat in mid air " that you appreciate these wonderful birds, Kirsten.
Every bird has a flying level from the earth
- Low level < 30 m
- 30 m < medium < 500 m
- high level >500
And the swollows are very special birds because they are Low level and medium level birds
Its so hard to fly in Low level with its flying duration this is needs more energy to do that but its body and structure makes that very easy
I've read that Barn Swallows will fly as high as 1,000 feet, but they prefer to stay low. Purple Martins go very high--like, 5,000 feet!
Hello once again. I sent a friend request on Facebook. It will say Rad Radster on it. From there I can send you the links if you are interested. Cheers!