September 18, 2020 Deervale Stone Canyon Park

Another hot day in the valley and I didn't feel like driving far so I set out for this small not quite pocket park in Sherman Oaks. Since I wasn't up to going down to the bottom since it would mean coming back up a hill in the oppressive heat, I stopped at some buckwheat and sawtooth goldenbushes and looked for insects.

I focused on finding very small bugs--from 1/4 of an inch to 3/4 of an inch long. It takes a lot of patience to not only spot these guys but also to photograph them. The advantage of looking for very small bugs is that you might find things that are not found very often--not too many people take the time to do this. The downside is that it can be difficult to get ID's on these things.

That being said, my two best finds for the day were a cute little brown and white weevil type insect and a small damselfly (surprised to find it here) that I think is an arroyo bluet but still awaiting confirmation.

Posted on September 19, 2020 08:46 PM by