Like most of our birds, welcome swallows are very busy at this time of year.
After finding a mate, it's time for them to get down to some serious nest building. For swallows, this means gathering up beakfuls of mud, grass and soft material to stick against an overhanging beam(or similar) to gradually form a nesting platform.
The inside of the dried mud base is filled with soft feathers and other material in which to lay their eggs and feed their babies until fledged. This particular pair are building their nest under the wooden bridge over the Waikanae wetland.
A swallow in its nest.
Every now and then, one will perch on a nearby pole sticking out of the stream while the other is flying around busily gathering nesting material. When the busy one feels the one on the perch has had enough rest, it flies up to the resting one and noisily tells it off for slacking! In between finding mud and other items for the nest, the birds hunt for insects, catching them on the wing then bringing them back to their perch to eat them.
They can often be seen flying low above ponds and waterways catching flies using their amazing eye-sight and flying abilities.
While I normally use a large telephoto lens for photographing birds, these particular swallows have allowed me to come very close to them, happily continuing with their nest-building activities while I am taking pictures from less than a couple of metres away.
