Posts in Category: Odonata
Maine! Wednesday Damsel
Swamp Spreadwing (?) doing calisthenics. Day Brook Pond, Kennebunk Plains Nature Conservancy, York County, Maine, USA — the spreadwings seem very few in number this year, and very late. ?? I think this is a Swamp Spreadwing doing interesting things with its abdomen. OM Systems OM-1 with the ED 100-400mm zoom at 800mm equivalent. Program mode with my custom birds and wildlife modifications.
Maine! Halloween Pennant
Halloween Pennant: Kennebunk Plains Nature Conservancy, York County, Maine, USA — While out photographing the Northern Blazing Star boom last week, I came across this fairly fresh Halloween Pennant. I am always happy to see one. This one was just back from the edge of Day Brook Pond. OM Systems OM-1 with ED 100-400mm zoom at 800mm equivalent. Program mode with my custom bird modifications. Processed in Pixelmator Pro. ISO 200 @ f6.3 @ 1/640th.
Maine! Calico Pennants
Calico Pennant: Kennebunk Plains Nature Conservancy, Kennebunk, Maine, USA, August 2023 — There were several Calico Pennant mating wheels at Day Brook Pond on the Kennebunk Plains this week. This one posed against a interesting backdrop. And this is the season when I always try for a shot of a Calico on a Northern Blazing Star bud. Northern Blazing Star is an endangered plant that, along with the Black Racer Snake and the Upland Sandpiper, the Plains are managed for. The flowers are too broad for them to perch on but the buds are likely perches, especially the shorter plants just back from the shore of the pond. OM Systems OM-1 with 100-400mm zoom at 800mm equivalent. Program mode with my custom bird modifications. Processed in Pixelmator Pro. ISO 200 @ f6.3 @ 1/640th.
Maine! — Halloween Pennant
Halloween Pennant: Forever For All Preserve, Kennebunk Land Trust, Kennebunk, Maine, USA — The newish Forever For All Preserve has turned out to be a very good spot for dragonflies and damselflies over the past few years, beginning in the overgrown meadow next to road and all the way down the hill to the stretch of meadow along the Mousam River. The Holloween Pennant’s coloring and the exceptionally wide wings, its relatively large size, and its habit of “posing” on the tip of an exposed stalk, all make it a stand-out dragonfly. OM Systems OM-1 with 100-400mm zoom at 800mm equivalent. Program mode with my custom birds modifications. Processed in Pixelmator Pro. ISO 200 @ f6.3 @ 1/800th.
Maine! Ebony Jewelwing
Ebony Jewelwing: Branch Brook, Kennebunk, Maine, USA, June 2023 — One of my favorite Odonata…the spreadwing damselfly Ebony Jewelwing. I generally go looking for them at Emmons Preserve along the Batson River in Arundel, but I found this one along the Branch Brook nearer to home. The body is metallic green in most lights and from most angles, but you can see here that it can also be a lovely metallic blue. OM Systems OM-1 with 100-400mm zoom at 800mm equivalent. Program mode with my custom bird modifications. Processed in Pixelmator Pro. ISO 500 and 200 @ f6.3 @ 1/640th.
Maine! Arrowhead Spiketail
Arrowhead Spiketail: Forever Wild Preserve, Kennebunk, Maine, USA, June 2023 — This gorgeous creature is the Arrowhead Spiketail. It may be 5 years between emergences, and, indeed, I have only ever seen one other here in Southern Maine…yet its population is “stable.” It was very cooperative, returning to the same perch time after time until I had “enough” photos of it. OM Systems OM-1 with 100-400mm zoom. One at 800mm equivalent. Two at 1600mm (with 2x digital extender). Three at 614mm equivalent. Program mode with my evolving bird modifications (works well for dragonflies as well). Processed in Pixelmator Pro. The first shot is at ISO 2500 @ f22 (for greatest depth of field to get both the head and tail in focus) @ 1/640th. Second is ISO 200 @ f6.3 @ 1/540th and third is ISO 200 @ f9 @ 1/6400th (again for depth of field).
Blue-winged Helicopter Damselfly
Blue-winged Helicopter Damselfly: Los Cosingos Santuary, Costa Rica, December 2022 — We were surprised to find this huge damselfly, the largest in the world, with a wingspan often over seven inches, flying through a clearing at Los Cosingos, just beyond the Alexander Skutch home. They are more common around wetlands and in the mangrove forests of Costa Rica and Central America than in the foothills…but there it was. The photo does not do it justice. You have to see one in flight with those four huge wings helicoptering above the body as it levitates along the forest edge. I tried for flight shots, but the group was more interested in moving on to the next bird and my time was limited. So you will just have to take my word for it…those wings are over three and half inches long! Sony Rx10iv at 447mm equivalent. Program mode with my custom birds and wildlife modifications. Processed in Pixelmator Photo and Apple Photos. ISO 800 @ f4 @ 1/500th.
Azure Bluet
Azure Bluet: SMMC Kennebunk, Kennebunk, Maine, USA, June 2022 — The grasses around the drainage pond at Southern Maine Medical Center in Kennebunk were full of Azure Bluets…probably more than a dozen visible in every square yard. What they lack in mass they make up in numbers 🙂 Sony Rx10iv at 600mm equivalent. Program mode with my custom birds and wildlife modifications. Processed in Pixelmator Photo and Apple Photos. ISO 250 @ f4 @ 1/500th.
Eastern Pondhawk
Eastern Pondhawk: SMMC Kennebunk, Kennebunk, Maine, USA, June 2022 — I have been watching out for these. The Eastern Pondhawk is one of my favorite dragonflies. I like the subtle shades of blue and green, blending into each other, and I like the fact that it sits on sunny rocks for its portrait. 🙂 This is a male. The females remain mostly all green with brown stripes on the abdomen while the males develop this prunosity that renders the abdomen increasingly blue. They are active, agile hunters, but they like to sit and sun themselves as well. Sony Rx10iv at 600mm equivalent. Program mode with my custom birds and wildlife modifications. Processed in Pixelmator Photo and Apple Photos. ISO 100 @ f4 @ 1/500th.
Skimmers
It was a day for Skimmers, or perhaps the season for Skimmers has come, at the drainage ponds at Southern Maine Medical Center in Kennebunk, Maine the other day. Four-spotted, Widow, and Twelve-spotted were all active. Multiple 4 and 12-spots, but only the single 4-spot. Sony Rx10iv at 600mm equivalent. Program mode with my custom birds and wildlife modifications. Processed in Pixelmator Photo and Apple Photos, and assembled in FrameMagic. ISO 100-200 @ f4 @ 1/500th.