A White-throated Swallow.

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I have never gotten one of these before and its flight speeds are the same as the other swallows.
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A real speed merchant and very difficult to get him on camera, as swallows have very erratic flight patterns. They can change direction in an instant and I thank my self imposed training on dragonflies that enabled me to get this one in flight on camera. I think that you can imagine how happy I was to get this unexpected gift.
Okay, enough talk and come to see this little wonder today.

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The White-throated Swallows (Hirundo albigularis) winter in Angola and Zimbabwe and they start arriving in South Africa late July to stay here for our summer, until they leave again in April. They build a bowl shaped mud nest normally over water and this one had a nest under one of the wooden walkways here that stretches over the water.

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There were also other birds here, such as one of my favorite Malachite Sunbirds below (Nectarinia famosa), but I concentrated on the swallow.
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Amazingly, if the babies fall out of the nest into the water, they can swim out from below the platform. They do not drown!
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And finally, I just had to show you another peep at the Malachite below.
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Information of the swallow mentioned by me here-Source

I got so excited when I saw the strange swallow as I have posted a few other breeds of swallows before over the years, but never this one. The giveaway for me was that there were no lateral brown stripes on his chest, as his chest was all white. A complete black breast band also distinguished the swallow as a different breed.
So there you have it, my first White-throated swallow and it is indeed a real little beauty.

I hope that you have enjoyed this new one and the photos.

And That's All Friends.

Photos by Zac Smith-All Rights Reserved.

Camera: Canon Powershot SX70HS Bridge camera.

Thank you kindly for supporting a post on behalf of @papilloncharity

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23 comments
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Not sure if it is the same little swallow we have nesting under bridges here, I captured one on the beach a couple of years ago, on researching found it interesting the little ones are able to swim.

Excellent photography once again on a swift little swallow.

!LUV
!WINEX

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Might just be the same specie and yes, so amazing that that the kids can swim.

Thank you and as they are smaller than our local swallows, at first when I saw it flying, I thought that t was a swift. But on closer inspection it turned out to be something special.

!LUV
!WINEX

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Always exciting to witness a bird you have not seen previously, nice photography of the little one obviously able to sit long enough for a session with you.

!BEER

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Thanks and yes, it is a very happy feeling every time that I get something new. The migrants will start arriving soon for the summer and I hope to get a few more new ones.
Glad that the bird decided to pose!

!BEER

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Some swallows have arrived early, yellow-bill kite went over couple of times in last two weeks, yes change will be soon be upon us, trees and flowers tell me so.

!LUV
!PIZZA

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Amazing to see all of the early arrivals and change is indeed a constant. Especially lately!

Here the trees are a bit confused as the one has blossoms and the same ones around it are in the early budding stages. Very strange.
First time that we have a lemon tree with gigantic lemons and I will pick one soon to show their sizes. It is like 3 normal sized lemons.

!LUV
!PIZZA

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Congratulations on adding this rare bird to your collection.

I think these swallows change direction so fast because they are insectivores. As a kid I used watch some sort of swallow in Kimberly and they would turn ridiculously sharp corners are they hunted.

Beautiful pics!

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Thank you Zak and yes they are very swift little birds. I was over the moon when I discovered what it was.
Not easy to get him and I have one somewhere in my files with a small grasshopper in its beak. So you are correct that they are insectivores.

!PIZZA

Glad that you liked the pics.

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Congratulations 🙌 I hope you will be able to see many new species this year :)

This post has been manually curated by the VYB curation project

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Thank you and that is also our hope my friend.

Thank you also for the VYB curation.

!PIZZA !LOL !LUV

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