Barn Swallow

Barn swallow taking a break from the rain at Lake Elhorn. It has been raining almost continuously for several days now so I have not had much luck with bird photography (the exception being an osprey and several great blue herons). Around mid-April, we had a mass amount of swallows at Elkhorn with my estimate being in the ballpark of 150+. I have not seen nearly as many even on hot, sunny days. They are very agile, small birds that require skill to follow and focus with a longer telephoto lens. I have attempted many shots at them in flight with very few shots in focus. It makes it easy when they are stationary.

While I enjoy this shot, I was not prepared for one of the swallows to be hanging out in a puddle by the Brokenland parking lot entrance. The swallow flew off before I even took my lens cap off.

Lens - Tamron 100-400mm f/4.5-6.3 Di VC USD @ 400mm on Nikon D5500