First Ode, Blue Corporal LH

I did a quick trip up Lantern Hill, largely to continue field-testing the gargantuan Sigma supertelephoto and to, with more conventional macro equipment, photograph any Trailing Arbutus blossoms. The flowers were cooperative. There were Mourning Cloak butterflies aplenty, along with a number of new-on-the-wing lepidopterans to try to capture: Black Swallowtails, Tiger Swallowtails, and Eastern Pine Elfins. That big, heavy lens remains a challenge to handle, but when I got things right, it really is a welcome way to bridge the distance gap. This became abundantly clear when I noticed, as I was heading downhill, a flash of sunlight on small wings and an insect, definitely an odonate but not one interested in sitting still close to me. I aimed the cannon in the direction of the glints, somehow managed to get the dragonfly, the first I'd seen this year, in focus on the leaf litter, and fired away, hoping my wrists were up to the task. Praise be, they were, and without even needing to consult the guidebooks, I could see that I'd spotted and documented a Blue Corporal: an "early bird" among odonates, and the very State-listed species that I'd been monitoring for the past few years. I hadn't seen one at all last year, so the fact that Ladona deplanata still lives around here just made my day.