Sometimes I see things through the lens of my camera that I would otherwise miss.

The other day I was exploring in the backyard and I wanted to get some pictures of the Labrador tea flowers. I started at one bunch and without much thought moved over to another.

After snapping a photo I noticed the wing of a fly. Thinking it was feeding I kept my camera focused on it in hopes that it would come up and I could get a shot of it on top of the flowers. It did not move. Since flies are usually quite busy creatures it did not take long for me to figure out something was slightly off with this situation. I needed to get a closer, unobstructed view, so I lowered my camera and peeked up over the edge of the flowers.

Much to my surprise I found that the fly was not feeding, but had been caught for someone elses lunch!

Crab spiders are crafty critters and we often find these amazing ones on flowers. They tend to frequent the yarrow when it is blooming, but you have to get down really low and look under the flower head to find where the spider is hiding out, waiting to pounce.

Countless time I have discovered things like this through the lens of my camera; things I would have most certainly missed had I not been focusing in on something to capture it for whatever reason (often to look it up later, but many times just to hold on to the beauty).

While some find it a distraction to take lots of photos while out on the trail, I find that it helps me to take a closer look at all of the small things around me, that often get overlooked when trekking along with just a destination in mind. It is my way to take the time to look closely and enjoy the journey!

Happy exploring!

And, don’t forget to enjoy the journey!

Dawn

P.S. I have noticed that interest in these types of observations have gone though cycles with the kids. When they were very young I could easily interest them in these little details, but as they have gotten older (and have seen things like this so many times before) it takes a bit more to get them to stop in their tracks, or come running over to see what has been discovered. It is all a cycle and while the way we explore nature has changed over the years, I am hoping that my enthusiasm for all of the seasonal interactions that happen year after year will stick with them and someday they will be calling their kids over to see a crab spider lunching on a fly.

And when I called out this day, they still came over to investigate my spider and fly discovery!