Tree Martins at Pangarinda

Tree Martin, South Australia

Earlier this year we went out to lunch with friends of ours. This was to celebrate my wife's birthday. After a delicious meal in one of our local hotels in Murray Bridge, we drove south for a half hour to the small town of Wellington on the lower reaches of the River Murray.

Just over the river - we had to wait for 20 minutes to cross on the local ferry - we drove the short distance to the Pangarinda Botanic Gardens. This 50-hectare site has been planted up with Australian native plants and my wife enjoys visiting these gardens due to her interest in growing our native plants.

As we were having a cuppa and some birthday cake, we were intrigued by the hundreds of Tree Martins swooping overhead. This is not all that unusual because this is a relatively common species here in South Australia. What puzzled us was the fact that these birds were coming to rest in large numbers in one of the eucalyptus trees near where we were sitting. Then they would all fly off en mass for a few minutes before settling once again in the same tree.

I am puzzled as to what they were actually doing. Perhaps they just wanted a rest for a few minutes. Perhaps there was an abundance of insects to eat on the wing and they didn't need to be constantly flying and swooping. Whatever the reason, it did give me a good chance to capture some photos of this species. Normally I only see them on the wing and it is frustrating trying to get good shots of tiny birds like this while they are flying so quickly, as they do.

Tree Martin, Wellington, South Australia

Tree Martin, Wellington, South Australia