Barn Swallow - Juvenile

As the sun was setting on a cloudy, foggy day at Yaquina Head Outstanding Natural Area my daughter and I decided to check out the Salal Hill Trail. It offers great views of the surrounding area, except that today the fog put a damper on that.
It was still a great time and along the way I saw a few birds with the best picture opportunities being juveniles as tends to be the case this time of the year.
As we followed the switch backs up the hill, I saw some Barn Swallows perched on dead branches. I tried to approach slowly, but by the time I got close enough to get descent pictures the only bird left was a juvenile. This juvenile was very trusting and allowed me to get plenty of closeups. Having the bright cloudy sky behind it made getting a good exposure a challenge, but I have gotten pretty good at knowing how much exposure compensation I have to use in these situations. The result are pictures with a rather soft feeling that I find interesting.

Barn Swallow - Juvenile

It's a hot weekend, highs in the mid 90's, so I got an early start before the heat got too bad. Since things are pretty dry around here, I decided I would make the trek to Hillboro and visit Fernhill and Jackson Bottom. Turned out both we pretty slow, as slow as I have ever seen them, but there were still birds to be seen.

As approached the bridge near Kingfisher Pond at Jackson Bottom, I noticed several Barn Swallows flying up and down the creek. This is a common area for a variety of Swallows, especially Barn Swallows. I also noticed that there were juveniles flying amongst them. Since it is not uncommon to see swallows and other birds perched on the railings of the bridge, I decided to hang out for awhile and see if I could catch one perching.
While none perched on the railing, this juvenile perched on a nearby branch long enough for me to get some close shots. While it could fly quite well, you can see from the fact that it still has some down that it is quite young.

Barn Swallow

As I approached the Kingfisher Shelter at Jackson Bottom, I noticed some white bird droppings in the middle of the deck. Looking up at the underside of the roof, I saw what I suspected, a Barn Swallow nest.

There were about four young swallows in the nest patiently waiting for a parent to come with some food, so I sat down and waited along with them. Sure enough, it wasn't long before a parent swooped in, fed on of its young and then quickly took off for another bug hunt.
This reminded me of my youth on my grandpa and grandma's farm. I remember seeing these mud and grass nests in the barn and the swallows swooping around the yard catching bugs.