Local stuff: This month kept me closer to home, so I took my macro lens to the backyard. It is always a rewarding venture. In addition to my usual spiders and insects, I found a spittlebug just molted and shot some flies in flight. My friend found a beautiful mantid at the local park. We also saw antlions. They are just too fast to photograph! Look closely at some of the pictures, and you might see the jaws. 

Even though I have been at the Los Cerritos Wetlands over several years (mostly birding), I finally saw my first Wandering Skipper!!! That was definitely a treat. They live in our coastal wetlands, which are always under threat of climate change, habitat degradation and development. This butterfly is listed as Low Risk/Near Threatened as evaluated by the IUCN. At the end of the month I went to Malibu Lagoon. It was there I saw my second Wandering Skipper! I went to Sycamore Canyon, just north of Malibu, with some birding pals and we saw Nanday Parakeets and a large group of California Quail with young ones. I also visited the LA River a couple of times this month, where, in addition to bird watching, I enjoyed the dragonflies. 

IRC Monthly Butterfly Count: Woodland Skippers were most abundant, however a highlight for me was to catch a Western Fence Lizard swallowing a huge grasshopper. The grasshopper gave a valiant effort but in the end was no match for the hungry reptile. 

Pelagic Birding Trip: I went on a Pelagic Birding Trip out of Dana Point. Not that many birds, but always good to be out on the water. We did have some nice looks at Black Storm-Petrels and Pink-footed Shearwaters.

Watch the slideshows or click on the links to look through at your own pace.

Enjoy the show! I always appreciate corrections to ID's.

Local stuff:  http://kimssight.zenfolio.com/new_aug_2016

Irvine Ranch Conservancy monthly butterfly count: http://kimssight.zenfolio.com/irc_aug_2016

Pelagic Birding Trip: http://kimssight.zenfolio.com/pelagic_trip_aug_2016