04/12/2026
I had a few hours this past weekend to explore around Corvallis and found myself at the William L. Finley Wildlife Refuge. Located in the Willamette Valley and spanning 5,325 acres, it is home to an abundance of birds and boasts being home to "thousands" of species. It was really an incredible "find" for someone like me, that could spend days here exploring the beautiful trails and different ecosystems in this land. And of course, I had my camera in hand to capture what I could.
One of the first things I saw were these zippy tree swallows, pulling off incredible acrobats together in the sky! I'm assuming I was watching courtship behavior- with them tangling up and even "kissing" in free fall! If you are familiar with these little ones, you'd know they are like little missiles screaming through the sky. Trying to photograph them was a great photographic challenge and I got lucky with a few worth sharing (shot at 3200 / sec shutter speed). I found it interesting that they would tangle in the sky and then do a free fall into the grass and then rise 2-3 seconds later and repeat their acrobats. It was super fun to watch! (They are heavily cropped so you can see them...)
