Parker River Wildlife Refuge
An early May run down to Plum Island, Massachusetts to check out the waterfowl population turned out to be a bust. The day was overcast and it had been a while since I had been out with the camera. So Stephanie and I made the run down only to find we were between flight seasons.
Winter birds had left and the summer birds were either still on the way or hiding. I did find a lot of Yellow Legs foraging for food in the mud flats. Most we quite a way off shore which meant digging out the 600mm f/4 lens and attaching a 1.4 extender to get me up to 1000mm.
The waterfowl situation may have been less than ideal, but the timing was perfect for flowering shrubs and trees. The two apple trees were in full bloom growing next to the parking lot at one of the pull outs.
The Swallows houses at the visitor center were very active on this visit. In this series, a male was perched outside an active nest, looking quite serious about his protection duties. When the female came out she strategically circled the perch and pushed the male from his post. Not wanting to loose his standing, the male immediately circled back, approached the perch and soon lost the battle and flew off to catch lunch.
On a side note: as a child, I knew that if my mother looked at me the way that female swallow was looking at me on this day, I knew I was in trouble.