Tree Swallow Photos

Photography by Terry Sohl

My Favorite: Tree Swallows are such gorgeous little birds if you get them in the right light. Much of the time when you see them though, they're on the wing, and pretty tough to photograph. My favorite photo was a weather-assisted shot, from early May on the shores of Lake Thompson in Kingsbury County. It was an unseasonably cold morning, cold enough that there weren't going to be many flying insects for swallows to feed on. One gravel area was just filled with hundreds of swallows of several different species, sitting in the cold, waiting (hoping) for an afternoon warm-up and some insect activity.

Tree Swallow - Tachycineta bicolor


Tree Swallow 1 April 2nd, 2004 Outdoor Campus in Sioux Falls, South Dakota	Tree Swallow 2 April 2nd, 2004 Outdoor Campus in Sioux Falls, South Dakota	Tree Swallow 3 (first-year) September 4th 2004 Near Salem, South Dakota	Tree Swallow 4 June 24th, 2006 Potter's Marsh near Anchorage, Alaska

Tree Swallow 5 April 2nd, 2004 Outdoor Campus in Sioux Falls, South Dakota	Tree Swallow 6 May 2nd, 2009 Lake Thompson, South Dakota	Tree Swallow 7 May 2nd, 2009 Lake Thompson, South Dakota	Tree Swallow 8 June 24th, 2006 Potter's Marsh near Anchorage, Alaska

Tree Swallow 9 May 2nd, 2010 Lake Thompson, South Dakota	Tree Swallow 10 May 2nd, 2010 Lake Thompson, South Dakota	Tree Swallow 11 May 2nd, 2010 Lake Thompson, South Dakota	Tree Swallow 12 June 24th, 2012 Potter's Marsh near Anchorage, Alaska

Tree Swallow 13 (1st-year) May 10th, 2020 Newton Hills State Park, South Dakota