Figure 1 – Tree swallow chicks in the nest, Fresh Pond Reservation, Cambridge, MA. (c) DE Wolf 2015.

When you photograph birds, you never know what you are going to get. Some days it’s nothing and some days it can be really exciting. Yesterday I was rewarded for my efforts.  I was walking along the path at Fresh Pond. Because of the need to protect both the vegetation and the water supply a lot of the trees are behind fences.  I spotted a pair of tree swallows (Tachycineta bicolor ) visiting a hole (haven’t figured out whether these are natural or man-made) in one of these trees about ten feet above me, and then was amazed to see the chicks peeping away with mouths open.  I was delighted to get these photographs, Figure 1 being an example.  I was trebled by the intense white sky in the background; so I did two things.  First, I maximized the tree in the frame and second I used the in-camera flash to provide fill-flash for the image. Yes I know that this is a cute cuddly animal photograph.  But I am allowed when they are my own!

Canon T2i with EF70-200mm f/4L USM lens at 168 mm, on-camera flash metering, ISO 1600, Aperture Priority AE mode, 1/200th sec at f/9.0 with no exposure compensation.