Colorado Songbirds III: Violet-green Swallow Fulfillment

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I am still recovering from my high altitude Colorado trip. Starved for oxygen at 8500 feet, I twice slept less than three hours; last night I slept an incredible 9 hours 15 minutes with just one pit stop. I have not been down to the lake for photography but plan on shooting some small sunflowers in our butterfly garden soon.

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This image was created on 21 June 2024 near Evergreen, CO. Seated on a rocky hillside at 7500 feet, I used the Robus RC-5558 Vantage Series 3 Carbon Fiber Tripod/Levered-Clamp FlexShooter Pro-mounted Sony FE 600mm f/4 GM OSS lens with the Sony FE 1.4x Teleconverter and the ridiculously amazing Sony a9 III Mirrorless Camera. The exposure was determined via Zebra technology with ISO on the Thumb Dial. ISO 2500. 1/320 sec. at f/5.6 (wide open) in Manual mode. When evaluated in RawDigger, the raw file brightness was determined to be dead-solid perfect. AWB at 8:50:03am on a partly sunny morning. Tracking: Expand Spot/AF-C with Bird Face-eye AF enabled performed perfectly. Be sure to click on the image to enjoy a high-res version. Image #1: Violet-green Swallow male on perch near nest box

First Blood

I headed to Colorado hoping to photography Violet-green Swallow. My first chance came at a feeder set-up. This handsome male was perched near its nest box well above a hillside feeder set-up. The bird was a mile away but pretty much on sun angle (thought there was not a lot of sun). The black background was created by completely shaded portion of the lower level of the house on the hill. Getting the right exposure using Sony Zebra’s was child’s play. I picked my shutter speed and aperture and dialed up the ISO until I saw a few Zebras on the bird’s white face and throat. With the Zebra settings on your Sony camera set properly, there is never a need to make a test image, even in the most difficult exposure situations.

This image is perhaps 30 percent of the original frame. Sony a9 iii images stand up to large crops much better than folks think.

This image was created at on 28 June 2024 near Evergreen, CO. Standing on a rocky hillside at 8000 feet, I used the Robus RC-5558 Vantage Series 3 Carbon Fiber Tripod/Levered-Clamp FlexShooter Pro-mounted Sony FE 600mm f/4 GM OSS lens and The One, the Sony Alpha 1 Mirrorless digital camera. ISO 1000. Exposure was determined via Zebras with ISO on the rear dial: 1/400 sec. at f/4 (wide open). AWB at 3:19:39am on variably sunny/variably cloudy afternoon. Tracking: Expand Spot/AF-C with Bird Face-eye AF enabled performed perfectly. Be sure to click on the image to enjoy a high-res version. Image #2: Violet-green Swallow male at nest hole

Nest Tree Bird-scape

For this image I went wide and vertical to show off the beauty of the nest tree. None-the-less the male swallow with its white face and green back is quite beautiful. As is the dead aspen. A pair of House Wrens nested in a hole on the opposite side of the same tree.

This image was created at on 29 June 2024 near Evergreen, CO. Standing on a rocky hillside at 8000 feet, I used the Robus RC-5558 Vantage Series 3 Carbon Fiber Tripod/Levered-Clamp FlexShooter Pro-mounted Sony FE 600mm f/4 GM OSS lens with the Sony FE 1.4x Teleconverter and The One, the Sony Alpha 1 Mirrorless digital camera. ISO 3200. Exposure was determined via Zebras with ISO on the rear dial: 1/250 sec. at f/6.3 (stopped down 1/3 stop) AWB at 11:10:45am on a cloudy morning. Tracking: Expand Spot/AF-C with Bird Face-eye AF enabled performed perfectly. Be sure to click on the image to enjoy a high-res version. Image #3: Violet-green Swallow female at nest hole

The Lady of the House

Female violet-greens are similar to the males but with dirtier gray faces and brown rather than green caps. For this image, I added the 1.4X TC and set up closer to the nest tree. The birds took no notice of my presence. This female was strange in that she exited the nest hole tail first showing off the patch of violet on her rump. The males also have violet rump patches.

Typos

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