Posts in Category: wildlife
Immature male Common Whitetail Dragonfly
The Common Whitetail is not a particularly elegant dragonfly, and, true to its name, it can be among the most common dragons on the wing in early summer, but it is still a fascinating creature. This, taken at Emmon’s Preserve in rural Kennebunkport, is an immature male, which has not developed the pruinose on the tail that will turn it white with time. (Pruinosity is a waxy power that forms on the surface of the dragonfly.) Females don’t have the solid black bars across the wings. This one was posed so nicely for a perfect portrait shot. Sony RX10iv at 1200mm equivalent (600 optical plus 2x Clear Image Zoom). Program mode with my custom birds and wildlife modifications. Processed in Polarr.
Tiger Swallowtail
I have been seeing Tiger Swallowtails in the forest for several weeks now, and not been able to get one to light long enough for a photo. I have pretty much stopped chasing them. Yesterday, this one was sipping minerals on Gravely Brook Road near Emmon’s Preserve in rural Kennebunkport. I have had success in similar situations in the past, so I stopped my ebike and, with patience, caught it several times in several different poses. Since we are here in Maine, at the northern edge of the Eastern Tiger Swallowtail range, and the southern edge of the Canadian Tiger Swallowtail range, it is impossible for me to tell which it is. It might be possible for someone who really knows…but not for me. Canadian is supposed be, on average, smaller than Eastern…but with a single specimen size is hard to judge. All I know is that it is big and bright and beautiful! Sony RX10iv at 1200mm equivalent (600 optical plus 2x Clear Image Zoom). Program mode with my custom birds and wildlife modifications. Processed in Polarr.
Slaty Skimmer
Another very common dragonfly all over southern Maine, but especially at the ponds on the Kennebunk Plains Wildlife Management Area: Slaty Skimmer. Not the most attractive dragon, and very similar to the much more showy (at least in flight) Spangled Skimmer with which it shares habitat. Still, it has an understated elegance all its own. Sony Rx10iv at 600mm equivalent. Program mode with my custom birds and wildlife modifications. Processed in Polarr.
Amber-winged Spreadwing
My first Spreadwing of the season. An Amber-winded Spreadwing, by far our most common here in Southern Maine. These were around the pond at Southern Maine Medical Center here in Kennebunk. I am not sure what the little balls are at the end of the abdomen on the second damsel. Sony RX10iv at 600mm equivalent. Program mode with my custom birds and wildlife modifications. Processed in Polarr and assembled in FrameMagic.
Calico Pennant
The Calico Pennant is another of my favorite dragonflies. This is my first-of-the-season, taken at Day Brook Pond on the Kennebunk Plains Wildlife Management Area here in southern Maine. If this year is like past years, there will Calico Pennants in numbers around the pond for several months now. Perhaps they are among my favorites because they are so easy to photograph…Pennants perch on the tips of vegetation and they often return to the same perch for several moments at a time…and they perch more or less horizontally…like a flag or pennant in the wind. It does take faster shutter speeds, because, like that flag in the wind, they are always in motion as the air moves around them. Sony RX10iv at 600mm equivalent. Program mode with my custom birds and wildlife modifications. Processed and cropped in Polarr.
Spangled Skimmer
In the field, taking these photographs, I thought I had a male and female Spangled Skimmer, but when preparing this post I realized that the second one is a immature male. The Spangled Skimmer is one of my favorite dragonflies. As it flies the white stigma flash in a fascinating pattern with the complex motion of the wings. It is not quite so spectacular when perched but it is still an attractive dragon. These shots are at Day Brook Pond on the Kennebunk Plains Wildlife Management Area here in Southern Maine. It is a common dragonfly and I also photographed them this week at the Southern Maine Medical Center ponds here in Kennebunk. Sony RX10iv at 600mm equivalent. Program mode with my custom birds and wildlife modifications. Processed in Polarr and assembled in FrameMagic.
Golden-winged Skimmer?
This might be a Maine State Record for Golden-winged Skimmer. I made a loop out through the Kennebunk Plains Wildlife Management Area and around by Old Falls and Old Falls Pond on the Mousam River on my ebike as a Sunday Photoprowl. I spent quite a while at Day Brook Pond on the Plains as there were several interesting species of dragonflies. And then there was this one. It was perching a good 25 feet out into the pond and not coming any closer to shore, and it always perched facing the same direction so my photos all show the same view. Still, it looks good for Golden-winged. I got one confirmation on the Northeast Odonata Facebook group, and I have submitted the photos to Odonata Central. Even if it “only” a Needham’s there are very few records of Needham’s in Maine either, so that will still be something. Such a big orange bug! Sony RX10iv at 1200mm equivalent (2x Clear Image Zoom). Program mode with my custom birds and wildlife modifications. Processed in Polarr.
Green Darner Mating Wheel
The damsel and dragonflies are finally out in some numbers at our local hotspots, at least on days when it does not rain all day. Yesterday was one of our warmest days so far in the high 70’s (today will reach the 80s) and I found several species active around the drainage ponds at Southern Maine Medical Center. This pair of Green Darners landed right in front of me, on the outer surface of the wall of cattail reeds that now surrounds the pond (and makes dragonflying there a challenge). Sometimes you get blessed though. Sony RX10iv at 600mm equivalent. Program mode with my custom birds and wildlife modifications. Processed in Polarr.
Ebony Jewelwing
These might be the earliest Ebony Jewelwings I have ever seen in Maine…and I saw them far from the streams where I have seen them in the past. These were along the Eastern Trail…a bicycle and walking trail that will eventually run the length of Maine…and, as part of the Atlantic Greenway, from Florida north. The section from Kennebunk to Biddeford runs along over an existing natural gas pipeline so all they had to do was build a bike and pedestrian bridge over I95. It has been done for several years now. The Jewelwings were fluttering over the trail as I rode my ebike along, and I got stopped in time to track them into the nearby forest for these photos. I find Ebony Jewelwings fascinating…not in the least because of how the color of the metallic body parts changes so radically as the light changes. These, in this light, were showing almost no green. They were an electric blue. Sony RX10iv at 600mm equivalent. Program mode with my custom birds and wildlife modifications. Processed in Polarr.
Chipper at the pond
Chipmunks are always cute, but they are cuter out in the wild, well away from my bird-feeders. 🙂 This one was teasing me from the shelter of the brush around the base of a big tree on the shore of Day Brook Pond on the Kennebunk Plains Wildlife Management Area in West Kennebunk. Sony RX10iv at 600mm equivalent. Program mode with my custom birds and wildlife modifications. Processed in Polarr.