Flutterbys

What’s Better Than This?

Charles Allen Haynes

February 9, 2022

Very often , when I’m standing in a broom sedge meadow or on a forest trail I find myself thinking, “What’s better than this, being in the middle of the natural world … organized chaos?”

A small group of friends, Franca and I have started a fledgling tradition. We spend a few hours every week or so in various places around Atlanta being “in it.” We’re using Cornell’s eBird App to record the birding trips, the seen (sometimes heard) species. I hope the trips continue and, as the weather gets warmer, increase in frequency.

In an attempt to corner my field of interests there are several areas on which I want to concentrate for the foreseeable future; digi-scoping insects and birds and anything else that moves, studying sparrows until I can’t be fooled, macro work with mollusks and insects, especially lepidopterans with Bill Russell and coleopterans, and wildflowers and ferns.

PHOTOGRAPHY NOTE:
Need to work on technique. Backgrounds are important and getting details, especially with wild flowers; flowers, leaves, stem, overall plant, environment, rhizome if there is one. I’m trying to develop a light weight but high quality field macro setup. Right now the best combination I have is either the 180mm F3.5 Canon Macro or the 100mm F2.8 Canon Macro. The Canon 100-400mm F4.5 is also a consideration because I can photograph birds and other wildlife as well as macro from a distance that doesn’t seem to bother most butterflies and moths. The thing is heavy. If I bring lights… Franca may have to carry something. We’ll see if things improve.

Dwarf Crested Iris