Have you ever found yourself surrounded by dozens of swooping swallows? I'm guessing you have.

Maybe it was tree swallows or cliff swallows in North America or barn swallows in Europe.

Birds like these zip through the air like little fighter jets. They're so fast that it's hard to get a

good look at one. Binoculars feel sort of useless in

these moments. I mean, good luck getting focused on a swallow in flight for anything more than a

millisecond. The little buggers keep zigging and zagging unpredictably, and they stay airborne

for what seems like forever. If you're trying to identify swallow species in flight, it might be

better to just use your naked eyes to glimpse some of their field marks. I once heard a professional

wildlife photographer give this advice. If you want to learn how to focus your camera on a moving target,

practice getting sharp photos of swallows in flight.

Now, I fancy myself something of a photographer, so I recently tried this with some cliff swallows

in Alaska. They were flying around over a river north of Gnome. There were tons of swallows, and I

snapped lots of photos. Did I come home with any photos of cliff swallows worth keeping?

No, I did not. Even with my fancy camera and fancy lens, I couldn't get a shot of a swallow that was in

focus. The birds were not cooperative, and honestly, I was a bit impatient that day. But of course,

patience is important when photographing birds.

Oh, well, maybe I'll have better luck next time.

Other than when they're nesting, swallows are in the air almost all day long.

This aerial lifestyle and that high-speed, erratic flight pattern can make it hard for us

earthbound primates to get close looks at

swallows, or to get good photos. But these flappy, seemingly out of focus birds definitely

deserve our attention. They have many charms and talents that, with a little patience,

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