The Lazy Birder

A walk at the garden and too many Great Spangled Fritillary butterflies! They were everywhere and the stars of the day.

A trip to wander around the Laurelwood Arboretum and Sculpture Trail. It's a beautifully landscaped park with the various trees identified with plaques or markers, and 'sculptures' spread throughout. While we observed birds such as goldfinches, hummingbirds in the sensory garden, red-belly woodpeckers, and heard catbirds, red-tailed hawks, and more, it was really a day to walk and enjoy everything the park had to offer. With that in mind, I had the 35mm focal length prime lens mounted on my camera which makes for a nice walk around combination but did limit its usefulness for photographing birds. But there was more to see and enjoy on this trip than just the birds.

Although there was a weather heat advisory in effect, the conditions did not feel as bad as forecast ( 90°F ) and the Audubon Society & park provided free bottles of water to the attendees which was much appreciated.
The photographs were taken with a Canon RF 24mm-240mm lens. It's my favorite all-around lens but not especially exceptional for pure bird photography when higher resolutions are the norm but is better for subjects like butterflies, in my opinion.

A Bergen County Audubon Society butterfly walk field trip to Wayawanda State Park, in Hewitt NJ.
The weather was great but the butterflies were scarce to nonexistent, and if they were seen flying they never paused to be photographed making identification difficult. Some photos of a nice day getting outside follow.