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Barn Swallow captured by Z 9 \/ Z180-600f5.6-6.3<\/p>\n
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The “trick” I share with new birders to know it’s a Barn Swallow is by its tail. I tell them it’s a pitchfork for moving hay in the barn, Barn Swallow. A common species found throughout North America, these aerial speedsters come here for the spring to raise the next generation before heading back south. I’ve enjoyed their antics forever, but last week was the first time I spent time photographing them. A couple of pairs were busy building their nests on a couple of outbuildings in the Black Hills, a couple of log buildings. That got me to thinking, where did they nest before we built barns?<\/p>\n
These are photos of the two different males at the two different nest sites on the two different buildings. Interestingly, both buildings had a large spike they could use for a perch. The challenge was to say “barn” without having their great pattern dominate the story. This required moving to the point of almost leaning against the building to throw it out of focus. The amazing MFD of the Z180-600 did the rest, allowing me to be just nine feet away. With sex in the air, the males couldn’t care less I was there. They went about trying their best to attract the females. Then comes time to cough up all those exoskeletons from all the insects they eat. I guess the females gotta do the same thing because the gagging routine didn’t seem to get in the way. They were so fun to spend time with all those days. I’m so glad we found a barn.<\/p>\n
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Barn Swallow captured by Z 9 \/ Z180-600f5.6-6.3<\/p>\n
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Barn Swallow captured by Z 9 \/ Z180-600f5.6-6.3The “trick” I share with new birders to know it’s a Barn Swallow is by its tail. I tell them it’s a pitchfork […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":70122,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"on","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"1219","advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"jetpack_seo_schema_type":"","sync_status":"none","episode_type":"","audio_file":"","podmotor_file_id":"","podmotor_episode_id":"","castos_file_data":"","cover_image":"","cover_image_id":"","duration":"","filesize":"","filesize_raw":"","date_recorded":"","explicit":"","block":"","itunes_episode_number":"","itunes_title":"","itunes_season_number":"","itunes_episode_type":"","_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"{title}\n\n{excerpt}\n\n{url}","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"_wpas_customize_per_network":false,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[7],"tags":[],"series":[],"class_list":["post-70121","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-wildlife-photography"],"episode_featured_image":"https:\/\/www.moosepeterson.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/DBLBS1285.jpg","episode_player_image":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.moosepeterson.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/06\/Podcast.jpg?fit=1500%2C1500&quality=100&ssl=1","download_link":"","player_link":"","audio_player":false,"episode_data":{"playerMode":"dark","subscribeUrls":{"amazon":{"key":"amazon","url":"https:\/\/www.audible.com\/pd\/Podcast\/B08JJQC1GR?ref=a_pd_item-n_c0_bc&pf_rd_p=1da7ab30-c785-4a0e-a160-4a7e7077b353&pf_rd_r=EEDMYHQM3DZ05FPRTHMJ","label":"Amazon","class":"amazon","icon":"amazon.png"},"apple_podcasts":{"key":"apple_podcasts","url":"","label":"Apple Podcasts","class":"apple_podcasts","icon":"apple-podcasts.png"},"rss":{"key":"rss","url":"","label":"RSS","class":"rss","icon":"rss.png"},"spotify":{"key":"spotify","url":"https:\/\/open.spotify.com\/show\/2fRA9VaVfSdQMKf1ipxr0tipxr0t","label":"Spotify","class":"spotify","icon":"spotify.png"},"itunes":{"key":"itunes","url":"https:\/\/podcasts.apple.com\/us\/podcast\/moose-podcast\/id1107405746","label":"iTunes","class":"itunes","icon":"itunes.png"}},"rssFeedUrl":"https:\/\/www.moosepeterson.com\/blog\/feed\/podcast\/moose-podcast","embedCode":"
We Found a Barn<\/a><\/blockquote>