Sarah Ainsworth Studio

Sarah Ainsworth Studio Art for Nature Lovers

I had the privilege of helping with the Celebration of Blues at Ballona Wetlands today. These are a few of the pollinato...
07/12/2026

I had the privilege of helping with the Celebration of Blues at Ballona Wetlands today. These are a few of the pollinators we saw, including three species of blue butterflies. Note that the females are often not blue, and all of the photographed blue butterflies here are female! (There tend to be more males than females earlier in the season, and this year has been weird.) Several visitors got lucky and got to see a female Acmon Blue, which is great, because they look a LOT like the endangered El Segundo Blue, and we were able to discuss the differences.

1. Female El Segundo Blue
2. ES Blue next to a bee (this is useful because a lot of people expect them to be the same size as Monarch butterflies
3. Another female ES Blue
4. Keys to identifying an ES Blue
5. Keys to identifying the very similar Acmon Blue
6. Keys to identifying the Marine Blue, which is sometimes mistaken for an ES Blue, especially in flight
7. Bonus pollinator, the Umber Skipper

Let me know if you have any questions! And if you were there, tell us what you saw!!!
Friends of Ballona Wetlands SB People | Places | Pastimes Southbay Magazine

06/09/2026

I wasn’t even paying attention to the fact that today was . How convenient that I actually wound up with my feet in the ocean today! Enjoy these 8 seconds of ocean sounds.
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Last week, I got to start official butterfly counting training. When I complete the 20 hours, plus pass a test, I will h...
06/09/2026

Last week, I got to start official butterfly counting training. When I complete the 20 hours, plus pass a test, I will have a permit to monitor/count our endangered El Segundo Blue butterfly. One key element is being able to tell apart these similar species, which can be tricky when they’re in flight! There are some obvious differences if you can get close enough to see. Their flight patterns can be a little different, and Marine blues are a tiny bit bigger than ES Blues, not that it’s obvious if you haven’t spent hundreds of hours looking at them. Fortunately, last week’s training took place in a location that features both species, which made it easier to fix in-flight differences in my brain. Did you spot the differences in the last species?
All shot with a Pentax K1 and macro lens. On this, my 4th year, I’m finally starting to catch some in flight. They are far worse than hummingbirds, and I’d really like to borrow a high speed camera to do some filming. If you know of a loaner program, let me know.
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Another habitat with confirmed emergence of endangered El Segundo blue butterflies. Also spotted: a Western Pygmy Blue, ...
05/27/2026

Another habitat with confirmed emergence of endangered El Segundo blue butterflies. Also spotted: a Western Pygmy Blue, the smallest butterfly in the world! May 24, 2026! On the Manhattan Beach Dunes restoration area just south of El Porto.

This is my 4th year documenting the endangered El Segundo Blue butterfly. And the first time I’ve seen them this early i...
05/24/2026

This is my 4th year documenting the endangered El Segundo Blue butterfly. And the first time I’ve seen them this early in the year. I visited the habitat yesterday, and wound up with two of my three bucket list shots for this year. These guys are so tiny and move so fast and erratically that it’s very difficult to catch them in flight. Of the ~350 photos of them on there are only three or four now with a butterfly in flight. The first two images here are two of those. And this first one is one I thought would be impossible. It’s the most in-focus in-flight image I’ve taken and it’s just sheer dumb luck over thousands of shutter clicks. I’m shocked it happened at 1/400 shutter speed handheld. I’ve been thinking I’d need to take a high powered flash down and put the camera on a tripod and do the old spray-and-pray method. First two pics shot on a Pentax K1 with a macro lens. Pics 3 & 4 shot in the 2024 season with a wide angle. Vid shot yesterday on my phone. Keep an eye out for these tiny cuties when you’re on the bike path near the youth center!
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What my phone sees versus what I’m looking at.
05/07/2026

What my phone sees versus what I’m looking at.

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