Walking Along the American River on Saturday

We went over to the American River Bend Park and walked the horse trails that took us over the bridge to the west side of the river.   I was expecting to see a lot more dragonflies than we did, but I DID get there early in the morning.  It takes a few hours for them to warm up… I did get some photos of a handsome Black Saddlebags dragonfly (Tramea lacerate) and saw a couple of large Green Darners, but no others.  I also got some photos of late summer Lady Bugs, their eggs and offspring; saw some “exuvia” (skin) of some other kind of flying bug; came across trees covered in red wasp galls; and also found a small bird’s nest…  We walked for about 2 hours and then headed back to the car… just as a foot-race was ending; everyone passed us on the trail heading for the finish line.