Memory Snapshots of Winged Wonders: Up Close and Personal

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Hmmm, when the tally of
our days in this life is taken, will it be the small moments of simplistic joy
that stand out?

The fourth in my “Up
Close and Personal” series of posts injecting little gems of beauty into our
lives as physical distancing keeps us
in lockdown. Today I revisit memory snapshots of winged wonders from summers
past – aka Diary of Unabashed Nature Geek.

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Memory
Snapshot: Riffle Snaketail

Early June. Kortright
Centre for Conservation. Strolling down in the valley along the river. Good
time for Clubtails. There’s one. Oh, a Snaketail! Rarely see one of them. A
Rusty? Check the field guide. No, maybe a Riffle Snaketail? Clear stream, sandy
bottom, rocky rifles – it all adds up. A lifer!

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Memory
Snapshot: Coral Hairstreak

Early July. Palgrave
Conservation Area. The footpath cutting through the meadow towards the first
swamp pond. Always a promising stretch. Scanning right and left. Something just
popped up in the weeds. Creep closer. Closer. Coral Hairstreak! Not quite a
lifer, but the only second one I’ve ever set eyes on.

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Memory
Snapshot: Spatterdock Darner

Early July. Forks of the
Credit Provincial Park. Wrapping up the day on the trail back to the parking
lot. Let’s scramble up that hill through the wildflowers. A mosaic Darner
perched low in the grass. Probably a Lance-tipped. No, look at that thorax
stripe. That’s new! Check the Field Guide. Spatterdock Darner. A lifer!

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Memory
Snapshot: Variegated Fritillary

Early July. Claireville
Conservation Area. The main north-south road nearing the intersection with the
east-west road. Something fluttering just off the road. A Fritillary, but not a
Great Spangled. A Variegated! Unusual this far north. Must have been blown
north by the epic rain storm a few days ago.

Memory
Snapshot: Mottled Darner

Early July. Forks of the
Credit Provincial Park. The trail through trees along the ridge. A sunny glade.
There – a mosaic Darner perched on a tree trunk. Hmmm, rather muted colour. Oh,
look at that hooked thorax stripe. Check the field guide. Mottled Darner – a lifer!

Beauty can be a
contagion too. No social distancing here. Get up close and personal. It is allowed.

~  Now Available Online
from Amazon, Chapters Indigo or Barnes & Noble: Hunting Muskie, Rites of
Passage – Stories by Michael Robert Dyet

~ Michael Robert Dyet is also
the author of Until the Deep Water Stills – An Internet-enhanced Novel which
was a double winner in the Reader Views Literary Awards 2009. Visit Michael’s
website at www.mdyetmetaphor.com .

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