I’ve been neglecting the McLinden Trails. It’s a local park built around municipal well fields, and is the best spot I’ve ever found for shooting dragonflies.

With the cold weather of the last few weeks, I’ve not been out to much insect work. As soon as warm weather hit, I headed out to the Allegan Forest, looking for the exotic species found in this large wild area.

I planned to go to Allegan today, but the weather did not cooperate. Early in the morning a massive line of thunderstorms sat over Lake Michigan, and slowly drifted to the northeast. Looking at the radar, I realized that Allegan would be lashed by storms all morning, ruining any chances for close up photography.

So instead I went to the McLInden Trails. Light rain was pressing into the area, so I was only there for about 45 minutes. But still enough to get a few decent shots. The sky was dark when I arrived, and they only grew darker before a brief drizzle settled in.

For a few minutes on a rainy day, this site worked out well for dragonfly shooting. I managed to get shots of male and female Calico Pennants, and also a Spangled Skimmer (which I had earlier mis-ID’d as an immature Widow Skimmer.) Many other dragonflies and damselflies were in the area, all good reasons to come back.

For tomorrow the forecast is for record high temps, high winds, and no rain – I’m looking forward to what the day will really bring.