Maria Small
July 2026 - Excited Tree Swallow
Original
About the Image(s)
I took this image of a tree swallow earlier this month on my walk on a cloudy morning at the San
Joaquin Wildlife Sanctuary. This tree swallow was perched on a small tree branch and when I
was taking some shots of it and hoping it would take off, all of a sudden it decided to look me in
the eye, open its mouth wide open and vocalize. What a delightful cutie!
Settings were f 6.3, 1/1600 s, ISO 1000 and shot at 394 mm.
Post processing was done in Photoshop. Big crop then made some adjustments on exposure,
contrast, vibrance, highlights and shadows.
4 comments posted
Maria, nice bird showing some behaviour. Image is sharp in spite of the magnum crop. The stick coming in an angle from the corner of the frame adds interest. Perfect background. Posted: 07/02/2026 12:07:51
Maria - this is lovely! I don't know how you could even see the swallow open its mouth per your original! Amazing crop! Great detail achieved. Wonderful. Posted: 07/09/2026 15:31:11
Hi Maria,
What a lovely shot of this swallow, and a great edit that enhances the bird beautifully. The tighter crop frames the subject perfectly, allowing me to appreciate its behaviour, which is a little lost in the original version.
The diagonal branch adds a wonderful sense of movement to the composition, and the open beak brings an extra touch of life and dynamism to the image. Posted: 07/15/2026 13:14:17
What a lovely shot of this swallow, and a great edit that enhances the bird beautifully. The tighter crop frames the subject perfectly, allowing me to appreciate its behaviour, which is a little lost in the original version.
The diagonal branch adds a wonderful sense of movement to the composition, and the open beak brings an extra touch of life and dynamism to the image. Posted: 07/15/2026 13:14:17
Hi Maria - I occasionally see a bit of a bird's tongue in a photo, but this is the clearest, fullest view of that ever. It's what "bird doctors" see when they tell the bird to "say 'ahhh'" so they can insert the tongue-depressor and look down the throat. Very unique view! And the individual feathers and the fluffed out areas of feathers add interest. Posted: 07/16/2026 01:38:34