Dan picked me up early and we traveled to William Kirsch Preserve, in west Little Rock, hoping to find some “last of season” butterflies and wildflowers. We were not disappointed. Showy Goldenrod graced the freshly mown paths, and seemingly covered the entire open spaces. The bright yellow blooms of both the Partridge Pea and Tickseed Sunflower lit the early morning shady areas like tiny floodlights.

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The blooms of the soft and delicately colored Asters reminded one of pastel color palettes in an artist’s studio, and held morning dew droplets like magnets holding metal shavings.

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And the Gerardia held reign over its dominion with the purple color of royals.

As it began warming, Eastern Pondhawk dragonflies lazily drifted from one plant to another patiently waiting for their prey to become active.

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And then, the butterflies could be seen lifting upward from the now dewless flowers in which they overnighted. Pearl Crescents were the first to appear followed by the Dainty Sulfurs. Common Checkered-Skippers would land and then immediately flit to another nearby spot. Monarchs could be seen flying just over the vegetation, but never presented a photo opportunity.

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Not to be outdone by the dragonflies, damselflies were out and about, spotted by Dan’s keen eyes.

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As we neared the end of our two-mile photo walk, a beautiful red dragonfly appeared on a nearby plant. The Blue-faced Meadowhawk was a “lifer” for me, and we saw several glowing in the now bright sun.

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It was an awesome morning, yielding several hundred shots of wildflowers, dragonflies and damselflies, butterflies, and a few random flowers and bugs.

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