LLELA, March 2016

I found out late in the week through iNaturalist about a chance to join the great Mike Fox for a photo safari at LLELA this morning. That was serendipity at its finest, since I was hoping to find a place to go shoot. This fulfilled that desire without requiring a long drive, and put me in the company of one of the most knowledgeable folks around when it comes to the fauna of LLELA.

While we looked for wildlife, we came across this interesting crossing of man-made and natural barriers.

I believe Mike identified this butterfly as a Pearl Crescent.  A ragged one, at that.  (EDIT: I was wrong.  Mike actually believes it's a Question Mark.)

We struck the jackpot at the turnaround of the trail, but it wasn't immediately obvious at first.  As we stood chatting we noticed a damselfly perched on a twig, which most of us shot.

Then a Red Admiral landed high on a tree trunk.

In fact, the longer we stayed the more we noticed other damselflies -- I think Mike said this was a spread-winged.

And eventually a dragonfly!

A ladybug on a blade of grass caused quite a stir in the group.

Now that we had a better idea what we were looking for, others in the group began to spot damselflies as well.

And now that I'd had more practice, I was able to get my best shot of the day.

Birds and mammals weren't on the photographic menu for this visit.  But once I shifted my focus to smaller subjects, I enjoyed the experience just the same!