Barn Swallows

After kayaking in Jamaica Bay on Wednesday with my friend Andrea, we went to Breezy Point, Queens for a quick dip in the ocean.When we returned to the car there were several barn swallows sitting on a wire overhead. I quickly got my camera to see if I could get a few shots before they flew off. Swallows don't generally sit still for long and the light was right to pick up their coloring.

As I viewed them through the lens I noticed some differences. Some had shorter tails, but the most telltale sign were their flanges/beaks. Most of them had yellow flanges rather than the adult all black beak. As most of you know baby bird's mouths and flanges are bright yellow or orange or other color so their parents can see their mouths when they are feeding them especially if light is low inside the nest area. We had a whole slew of juveniles and just a few adults mixed in. Enjoy.

Yellow flanges and notice the shorter tail

Adult - notice the longer tail feathers and how the beak is all black