Red maple flower

I've had my eye on the Red Maples, a.k.a., the Swamp Maples, for a couple of weeks now, and finally, my persistent in observing has started to pay off with sightings of their exquisite flowers, which are typically the first of the native trees to bloom around here. Well, I guess the birch catkins and the pussy willows are ahead of them, but Acer rubrum is the first genuine showy blossom... the one that actually looks like a flower. I don't count the Witch Hazels, either, since the late-winter-flowering one we have in the garden isn't native to the area. Anyway, I was on a walk on a new refuge to examine a route along which I'll be guiding a group next week, and in the wetter part of the property, I spotted lots of Red Maple flowers. Even with my red-green-colorblind eyes, the red, or what I've been taught to perceive as red, leaps out at the viewer—and the camera lens. These blooms are a genuine optical feast, and a sweet-smelling one, too.