Swallow

During my girls' trip to Malaysia  we went to a famous Central Market street in KL where we came across many beautiful souvenirs and items which we could purchase. While walking and taking in all the new things we were seeing, we came across a small jewellery shop called Akoe. This shop was slightly unique. I say unique as I am always drawn to handmade items  .

They had a range of items and designs to choose from. I was looking for a symbol that would somehow suggest new beginnings. Despite putting a lot of thought into what I wanted I could not make up my mind and kept skimming through the box and finally picked one locket/pendant. It was a metal locket of a bird. I still have it and it somehow always reminds me of a swallow or swift, while some may say it is just a bird! 

I always thought swallows or swifts are birds which one sees in Europe. That was until I spotted my first swallow in Gurgaon on 8 September 2019 in an apartment complex while sipping coffee. There were two or three of them and they were nesting. How was I sure? it was a because of their mud nest.  Here are the first captures, taken from my phone, hence not such a good quality or clarity.

Look carefully at the wire-like tail.

Perched atop while collecting materials for nesting, this was close to a pool.

Their mud nest at the entrance pillar, which I found after quietly following them.

This is the picture of my first sighting of these beautiful blue birds.

I thought that was it, it was a good day. But after that I again spotted them four times once near our school swimming pool, second near the Indian Habitat Centre, third near Akshardham metro and fourth near my parents' home. I tried taking more pictures but unfortunately, my camera is not good enough to capture the ones on the high ceilings or the ones which are swiftly zooming past in the sky. All the more reason for me to invest in a good camera. 😉

I came across two more such opportunities when I visited Australia, once when we went to the Cleveland Wildlife Park in Adelaide, and second while waiting for a bus to take us to a book store near Sydney university in an underground basement entrance. These two sightings have been closer and clearer. 

Here are the captures from the wildlife park:                                                  

This here is the White-Browed Wood Swallow

That is a pair hidden between in the tree

Here is the second one which caught my heart:

This one here is a Welcome Swallow or a Barn Swallow.

Look at those beautiful beady eyes!

This was my till date the happiest capture! :)

 Swallows as I have read are small and very agile in flight and spend most of their time on the wing. They are found where there is a steady supply of small insects and are mostly found in northern hemisphere but migrate to the south during winter. Swallows are from the family of Hirundininae which also includes Martins. They are distantly related to Swifts and there are 84 species worldwide. Male and female swallows are mostly identical. In India we have 16 species of Swift Martins and Swallow birds like Redrumped or striated Swallow, Wire-tailed Swallow, Common Swallow and Dusky Crag Martin.