My mother-in-law was over for my wife, Carol’s, birthday on Thursday, and told me about this pond on the grounds of the new medical center that I had not been aware of. It seems to be part of the “facilities” of Quest Fitness, which is in the Medical Center, so I am calling it Quest Pond. I took my first photoprowl on the electric scooter there yesterday morning. Besides lots of damselfly action, and the promise of dragonflies as it warmed, there were hundreds of these tiny skippers in the reeds along the edge of the pond. They would flit up high enough to see them, and then quickly settle back deep in the reeds.

They are the smallest skippers I have ever seen…though their bright orange wings make them a bit more conspicuous. It seems fitting that they are Least Skippers…I can not imagine one much smaller. How small? The extended wings average 1 inch, so folded up here, this fellow is about 1/2 inch tall, and about the same in length. Small.

Notice the striped antennas and pug like face. Too cute.

With some persistence I was able to find a couple of specimens posed with a line of sight into the reed bed and get a couple of images…at the extreme end of the zoom plus 2x digital tel-converter function for 1680mm of equivalent reach.

Canon SX40HS. Program with iContrast and –1/3EV exposure compensation.  As above, f5.8 @ 1/200th @ ISO 250 and 500. Processed in Lightroom for intensity, clarity, and sharpness.