The house martins
You know that autumn is coming when you see house martins, swifts and bats flying all at the same time in the evening, which typically happens in early September here; even if the weather is still summer-hot and the trees are still green, that’s an unmistakable sign of autumn. The summer martins keep flying out of their nests earlier and then going to sleep earlier as the gays keep getting shorter, but their evening flying time still somehow coincides with at least the beginning of the bats’ flight - and of course the swifts are always there, only leaving the sky to feed their nestlings if they still have any.
I kept watching the house martins in the evenings while I could, and I had to walk further and further to see any as the nearest colony at the very end of town seemed to have left some time in late August (wow, that was early!). I can still see occasional birds here and there, but most of them seem to have gone. My best guess is that the last big migration wave left on the morning of 17 September, leaving behind only those pairs whose latest chicks are too young to make it to Africa. I suspect that several pairs on one particular building still have nestlings; there were plenty of young birds of that same colony in the air lately, but they seem to have taken off together with their parents. The adult birds that are still here will be fine; there’ll be plenty of insects for them to hunt even in October, but I hope they don’t rush those chicks to Africa too soon before they’ve learned to fly well enough.
And now I suspect that the surest sign of imminent migration is not their practice group flight in the evening, but switching to their usual evening hunting for at least one evening to just “refuel” before they take off because that’s what that same colony did on the evening before - but of course I can’t be sure. Or maybe I just missed the practice part because they flew out earlier in that suddenly cloudy evening. :P
Photo from 9 September; these specks on the side of the building are house martins. They weren’t really gathering for migration, just practicing before dispersing for their usual chaotic hunting flight in the evening.
A photo of the whole building for perspective (I’m suddenly glad the buildings in my immediate area aren’t that tall):
And I may as well add an incredibly good (for my camera) capture of a house martin in the most central park in town on 19 August, which I finally managed to crop into a not-too-blurry segment. It was very much a matter of luck as I kept shooting in the general direction of the low-flying birds that were much faster than my reaction time, let alone my camera’s reaction time.
The whole uncropped photo:
And now other people’s videos of what I never really get to see; the actual gathering for migration (I’m not even sure if they do it in the morning, so that’s again just my best guess):
I kept watching the house martins in the evenings while I could, and I had to walk further and further to see any as the nearest colony at the very end of town seemed to have left some time in late August (wow, that was early!). I can still see occasional birds here and there, but most of them seem to have gone. My best guess is that the last big migration wave left on the morning of 17 September, leaving behind only those pairs whose latest chicks are too young to make it to Africa. I suspect that several pairs on one particular building still have nestlings; there were plenty of young birds of that same colony in the air lately, but they seem to have taken off together with their parents. The adult birds that are still here will be fine; there’ll be plenty of insects for them to hunt even in October, but I hope they don’t rush those chicks to Africa too soon before they’ve learned to fly well enough.
And now I suspect that the surest sign of imminent migration is not their practice group flight in the evening, but switching to their usual evening hunting for at least one evening to just “refuel” before they take off because that’s what that same colony did on the evening before - but of course I can’t be sure. Or maybe I just missed the practice part because they flew out earlier in that suddenly cloudy evening. :P
Photo from 9 September; these specks on the side of the building are house martins. They weren’t really gathering for migration, just practicing before dispersing for their usual chaotic hunting flight in the evening.
A photo of the whole building for perspective (I’m suddenly glad the buildings in my immediate area aren’t that tall):
And I may as well add an incredibly good (for my camera) capture of a house martin in the most central park in town on 19 August, which I finally managed to crop into a not-too-blurry segment. It was very much a matter of luck as I kept shooting in the general direction of the low-flying birds that were much faster than my reaction time, let alone my camera’s reaction time.
The whole uncropped photo:
And now other people’s videos of what I never really get to see; the actual gathering for migration (I’m not even sure if they do it in the morning, so that’s again just my best guess):
Click to view