Pic of the Day

     Tree Swallow, Tachycineta bicolor – Benton Lake National Wildlife Refuge, Montana:  Benton Lake NWR is home to numerous nesting shorebirds, and that is why I made the refuge a stop on my trip west this past spring.  After spending a morning shooting avocets, stilts and grebes I stopped to check out the refuges photo blind.  When I walked to the blind I saw a small flock of Tree Swallows hawking insects over the cattails growing around the blind.  As I got closer I found a few swallows perched on cattails, and immediately took the opportunity to shoot portraits.   As I was shooting this particular swallow it opened its beak revealing its wide gape, an essential feature of birds that scoop insects out of the air.