Violet-green Swallow

Photo by Wolfgang Wander on Wikimedia

Tachycineta thalassina
 
I will never forget the first time I remember seeing Violet-green Swallows. I was visiting Bodie State Park in California.

Side note: if you haven’t been there, go. It is an awesome mining ghost town, and I’m not just biased because my great-great-grandmother taught school there.

I noticed some mud nests on the side of a building and saw adult Swallows darting in and out of the nests, feeding their young. I stood there watching, transfixed. I had never seen swallows this color before! I waited, hoping to get a great shot of a parent at the nest. I have no idea how long I was there trying to get a photo. Suddenly, a ranger came out of the building asking if they could help me. Unbeknownst to me, this was the rangers’ lodging house, and I was standing there taking tons of photos like some kind of creepy stalker! I, completely mortified, pointed out the swallows’ nests. The ranger seemed to understand, but also gave the impression they didn’t want me to continue to stand there taking pictures.  I moved on, looking for an abandoned mine shaft I could crawl into and die.

Violet-green Swallows, along with being found in Bodie, also range across Western North America from Alaska to Central America. Migrating to breed in the northern area of their range, and over-wintering in the tropical climates of Mexico down to Costa Rica. Like Northern Rough-winged Swallows, they usually feed around bodies of water.
​
I’ve included some of the photos I took on that fateful day below. You can decide if they were worth the embarrassment!

---