Back to Beesness

© jmillerphoto.com – Bee and Flower

Finally made it back out to the real world yesterday. The weather was good, energy levels were decent, and gosh darn it I needed to get out.

So I made my way to Mitchell Lake Audubon Center at the south end of San Antonio.  It was an outstanding 2.5+ mile walk around the basins and polders I think I took advantage of the few photographic opportunities that I found.  I got my first dragonflies for the year–images of 4 or 5 different Variegated Meadowhawks on the walk.  In addition, I picked up my first life list addition for the year–a Blue-gray Gnatcatcher.  I also picked up images of Inca Doves, Snowy and Great Egrets, and Eastern Phoebes.  All in all I saw at least 18 different birds that I can identify, with a 19th that I still have to figure out.  Not a bad day.

The biggest treat (beyond actually getting to get out) was seeing my first of season (FOS) dragonflies.  Seeing both the Variegated Meadowhawks and Common Green Darners flying and active gives me great hopes that spring cannot be too far around the corner.

About the Image:
Hands down the image of the day was this shot of a bee feeding on a flower.  Truth be told, there weren’t very many bees or flowers.  But the few that I found worked out very well for me.  Technical details:  Standard Gear, on the tripod, no flash, ISO 400, 1/640th at f/9.