Love In the Lake

I met up with a couple of friends for a walk on the Paulinskill Trail which goes along several retention ponds and a marshy area.  It is a fun trail in all seasons and today we racked up 30 species.  When you consider that none of the summer migrants will arrive for another 30-45 days or so, that's a good number of species to see in a morning.  As we were looking at some ducks all the way on the other side of the lake, one of our group noticed that the pair of Mute Swans were mating.  Nothing about this shot is ideal - the harsh light, the distance, the angle... but I did capture the heart shape they make with their heads.  One more shot in Extra of the actual mating process which doesn't look at all comfortable for the female as he was holding her head beneath the water for a good part of the event.  Not quite as violent looking as ducks, but still not exactly a charming scene.

Back at home, Jax and I spent some time in the garden.  I was still hoping for insects but since there are not any flowers open yet, it really isn't conductive to bees or wasps or even flies.  I did find one (invasive) stink bug, but it wasn't worth the effort.  Several queen wasps were drifting around but without any sources of nectar, they will soon return to wherever they've spent the winter, under some bark or in the mulch.  Nothing really for them to do yet.  

Discussions are underway about a puffin trip to Maine next summer...stay tuned.

xo
Debbi