Joyful

I decided to take a drive up to the Refuge this morning to see if I could put my lens on some swallows and martins.  I came home with almost 900 images, most of which went straight into the delete bin.  But there were a few keepers including this one.  Not a perfect shot, but I was delighted to catch both birds in focus and in the frame.  These are American Tree Swallows - fast, unpredictable, beautiful.  The male is above and the female below.  They have only recently arrived on territory so they haven't started nest building yet, but are definitely looking at all the available real estate.  Although it was impossible to count, there were probably 20-30 buzzing around. 

And then there were the purple martins, another fabulously fast bird.  I am putting a shot of a male Martin in Extra and if you look closely you will see he has a small bug in his bill.  Martins and swallows catch and eat their prey on the wing which explains their fast and erratic flight.  

I think I had two things going against me this morning in terms of the number of garbage shots I took.  One, I needed a little more lens - next time I will put a 1.7TC on the 300 lens which should help me get closer.  Second, my hands just weren't a steady as they needed to be.  Next time I will bring a bean bag and a mono pod, one to use from the car and the other on the ground.  Actually, I am renting a 400 mm f4.5 Z lens which should be delivered Monday so I will definitely put it to the test on the martins and swallows.

In other news, I discovered a small colony of Carpenter Bees around our shed.  Not enough to be concerned about any damage, but plenty to provide me with lots of fun shots.  Only the males are out right now and they are patrolling the airspace and occasionally engaging in little skirmishes with other males.  That was another 200 images.  

We watched another old movie last night, "Bird on a Wire" with Goldie Hawn and Mel Gibson.  It was what you'd expect - mediocre acting, but funny and  full of action.  

Meanwhile, Hilly and her Hubs are still trying to get out of South Africa!  The plot has gone from irritating to completely unbelievable and I am sure she will share details when she finally gets home...whenever that might be.  A terrible way to end a great holiday.

Dark with nuts today.

xo
Debbi