Environmental Education Day & Tree Swallows

Tomorrow, 17 May 2013, the Isabella Conservation District is hosting its annual Environmental Education Day for 3rd grade students.  We invite every 3rd grade classroom in Isabella County to attend.  We have just over 600 students scheduled to participate. To make this program work, we invite different organizations from the local area and around Michigan to participate.  With just a few exceptions, these organizations donate their time and resources to help support environmental education.  I plan on writing a longer post next week to acknowledge all those who participate, but right now my schedule is a little busy. 

I thought I would show you a few new pictures of a pair of Tree Swallows (Tachycineta bicolor)from earlier this week.  This was one of five nesting pairs using nest boxes at the Saginaw Chippewa Academy.  This pair had six eggs in their nest.  For more information on Tree Swallows check here.  Nest box plans and information can be found on this page.

This pair let me approach to about 8 foot from the box - these pictures were taken with my short telephoto lens at 135mm - before they took off to circle around me while I checked the nest.  The male then landed in a nearby tree and let me take several more pictures.

Male (top) and female (bottom) Tree Swallows on nest box

Male Tree Swallow