I’m leading a field trip of nature/photography enthusiasts in a couple of weeks, and thought I should check on what there is to see in the area we will visit on our walk. It’s amazing how much (more) you can see by just standing still and waiting for wildlife to fly, walk, or swim by. To illustrate, I just stood quietly near a patch of wildlflowers in a grassy field and spotted the following:
Small orange butterflies flitting sort of limply over the wildflowers and rarely pausing to sit — Common Ringlets, in the same family as Monarchs, and the same subfamily as brown Wood Satyrs.
A tiger Swallowtail butterfly was feeding on Vetch flowers.
A female 12-spotted Skimmer perched while hunting in the meadow.
Numerous Dot-tailed Whiteface dragonflies coursed over the path and out in the meadow. I think this one is a female. The male has a dark abdomen with just one spot on the dorsal surface of the abdomen.
Song Sparrows sang loudly from tree perches at various points around the meadow.
Yellow Warblers staked out just about every other tree in the grassy meadow, singing “sweet, sweet, I’m so sweet” over and over.
There was more…but that’s enough for this post.
Back Yard Biology 
Very nice. I like your point about wait and watch. Am doing same circumnavigating Lake Superior for next 10 days.
Boy, you do get around Jim — here, there, and everywhere. Enjoy your aquatic adventure.
Excellent post and shots!
Thanks, Belinda.
A few years ago I became a volunteer bird monitor for the forest preserve. One of my tasks was to do point surveys — observe and listen for 5 minutes in one spot. Like you, I discovered I saw more standing still!
What a great job to have. I bet you got really good at distinguishing one bird song from another. I heard quite a few different songs — some I knew and some I wasn’t sure of. So there was a lot more going on in my little patch than I captured on the camera.
I do the same thing…just take my camera and stand still and wait to see what shows up. It brings a sense of expectancy. 🙂
What a gorgeous sight!