Glossy Swiftlet

I spotted these three swiftlets playing above the paddy fields, so set up for a head-on shot and waited, but soon realized that I was missing some spectacular panning opportunities, as these miniature MiGs were zipping past my head. I folded up the monopod, pre-focused and started panning. <br><br>

The birds were making roughly a circuit of about 50m diameter and they were fairly easy to follow through the viewfinder and I would snap them as they came past. Obviously most were out of focus or out of frame, but out of the sixty shots, six were very reasonable and some strange noises of excitement emanated from my mouth as I pulled up the pixels onto my screen. <br><br>

You can actually see a vortex coming off the wing on the first image, just like on a jet aircraft, as the sudden change in pressure condenses the moisture out of the humid atmosphere – how cool is that! <br><br>

It was actually great fun doing the shoot. I thought I was going to get whiplash at one stage and by the end of the session my arms were dropping off as this camera lens combo is rather heavy.