It was a quiet morning on the south shore of Lake Apopka. Overhead I heard the chattering calls of Purple Martins. I located four of them sitting in the top of a tall tree. Periodically they would dart out, fly around, and then return to the tree to rest. I positioned myself on a good sun angle and waited for the next flight shots. I’ll confess that there was a small bit of squealing when I saw the images on my computer…

It was a juvenile Purple Martin who flew out from the tree. He met Mom in mid-air. Mom had a tasty dragonfly for him. He hovered briefing as she flew in for the handoff.

The handoff happened very quickly. On my next frame, Mom was flying off, and the baby had a mouth full of dragonfly! A second juvenile joined the flight party.

The dragonfly disappeared quickly. The juvie had it in this next frame, then it was gone in the following image. gulp!

A few seconds later, both juvies flew in the opposite direction, probably off to find Mom to beg for some more breakfast. It takes a lot of bugs to feed a growing Purple Martin!