Posts in Category: Odonata
Roseate Skimmer. Happy Sunday (again)
Roseate Skimmer, Sweetwater Wetlands, Tucson AZ
Those of you were paying attention might have noticed that yesterday I was suffering under day-of-the-week confusion. My daughter Sarah and I are working the Tucson Birding Festival, and we have been up and out early to do workshops or just to get some birding and photography in while it is still only in the upper 80s, and for some reason I woke up yesterday convinced it was Sunday already. It was only after I had written and posted The Generous Eye post for the week, which is my Sunday morning routine, that I was divested of that illusion. Saturday! Oh well, too late now.
Therefore this is the rare week when I post two The Generous Eye posts. What a blessing! For you. And for me!
This is one of my favorite dragonflies, though I only see it when traveling to Texas, New Mexico, or Arizona…states within its range. We do not have them in New England. The color is just so unlikely in nature…so intense…so pink! I had seen them on, what turns out to have been Friday, while doing a workshop at Sweetwater Wetlands in Tucson, but they would not perch for a photo. On, what turns out to have been Saturday, we found two different specimens perched nicely. One was a tattered individual, with frayed wings, but the other was this relatively new dragon. Even it has a little wing tare…life at Sweetwater, with a host of predatory dragonflies competing within a relatively small area, must be rough.
The Roseate always makes me smile. There is, for me, a deep satisfying joy in seeing one, and especially in photographing one. What an outrageous bug! How extravagant…how unneedfully generous…of the creator to have lovingly intentioned such a creature in our world. I have to admire such extravagance. I have to love such a creator. And sharing an image of the dragonfly that might cause you to experience even a echo of that tangle of feelings is just plain fun! Happy Sunday.
Halloween Pennant
Halloween Pennant, Kennebunk Plains Wildlife Management Area, Maine
On my photoprowl to the Kennebunk Plains late yesterday afternoon, I was surprised to find a few Northern Blazing Star in bloom. This is going to be a year with a lot of Blazing Star, and I am expecting a bold display, but not for several more weeks…well into August. Still I was happy to see them in bloom, as often I am traveling when the Blazing Star is a its peak. Maybe early this year 🙂
I also found at least two, probably teneral, Halloween Pennants among the Blazing Star. Again, this is a Dragonfly that I have seen on the Plains when the Blazing Star is in bloom, in August. These might be early, and they were almost certainly newly emerged, as the wings were quite light in color. The one on the right is on a Blazing Star bud, far from open.
Sony HX90V at 720-1000mm equivalent field of view. Processed in Lightroom and assembled in Coolage.
Ebony Jewelwing again
Ebony Jewelwing. Batson River, Emmons Preserve, Kennebunkport ME
There were a few Ebony Jewelwings, all males, a week ago along the Batson River at Emmons Preserve (Kennebunkport Land Conservancy), but yesterday there were both males and females and they were thicker than the mosquitoes. 🙂 Of course, due to the mosquitoes it was hard to stand still long enough to photography them…but I came back with a number of keepers. This bold male perched repeatedly only a few feet from me.
Sony HX90V at 720mm equivalent field of view…with some Clear Image Zoom applied to bring it up to about 1000mm equivalent. 1/250th @ ISO 500 @ f6.4. Processed and cropped slightly in Lightroom.
Green-eyed Monster
Racket-tailed Emerald. Kennebunk Bridle Path, Kennebunk ME
Yes, well, green-eyed for sure. This is a Racket-tailed Emerald. There is at least one pair that inhabit a small pool beside the Kennebunk Bridle Path. They must successfully sow eggs in the pool every year, since I see them just like clockwork, emerged as adults, and busy about the business of dragonflies. They don’t perch a lot, and when they do, they favor out of the way nooks among leaves, so they are not easy to photograph. I was happy to get these.
Nikon P900 at 700mm equivalent field of view. 1/500th @ ISO 200 @ f5.6. Processed in Lightroom and assembled in Coolage.
The Big Easy: 12 Spotted Skimmer
12 Spotted Skimmer, Kennebunk Bridle Path, Kennebunk ME
The Twelve Spotted Skimmer was the first Dragonfly I ever photographed. Not this one. My first shot was at the Coastal Maine Botanical Gardens in July of 2012, and it kicked of an interest that has persisted and grown over these past 3 years. Appropriately, the Twelve Spotted Skimmer is one of the easiest dragonflies to photograph. It is big and showy…and it perches often…returning regularly to the same perch. A bit of patience, and a suitably long lens (or even a great deal of patience and shorter lens) is all that is needed. My lenses have grown in length over the past 3 years, even if my patience has not. 🙂
Nikon P900 at 700mm equivalent field of view. 1/500th @ ISO 125 @ f5.6. Processed in Lightroom.
For interest here is an even closer shot with the Sony HX90V using some enhanced digital zoom.
12 Spotted Skimmer. Sony HX90V.
Ebony Jewelwings
Ebony Jewelwings, Batson River rapids, Emmons Preserve, Kennebunkport ME
It is just about Ebony Jewelwings time of year again. After my encounter with the River Jewelwings a few weeks ago (here), I went back to the rapids on the Batson River on Saturday to check for early Ebonys, and there were indeed a number of males dancing over the rapids and pools. All Ebonys, no River…which is, I think, an interesting thing to note. And I found no females, either near the river in the forest, or in the meadows. Maybe next week. There is, of course, nothing like the iridescent blue/green of the Ebony Jewelwing’s body…sometimes bright blue and sometimes bright green, depending on the angle of the light.
The center image is from the Sony HX90V and the surrounding images are from the Nikon P900. All are processed in Lightroom and assembled in Coolage. Coolage is such a great program for this kind of panel!
Calico Pennant
Calico Pennant. Day Brook Pond, Kennebunk Plains Wildlife Management Area, ME
I always look forward to the first Calico Pennant of the season. I found some teneral (newly emerged) Calicos at Day Brook Pond a week ago, but did not find any adults until yesterday. There were hundreds around the pond…males outnumbering females about 6 to one…but then the females had probably already dispersed for the day to feeding grounds further from the water. I did find a mating wheel. Calicos are relatively easy to photograph as they settle out frequently on perches that are predictable, once you know what to look for…and sometimes sit sunning themselves for 60 seconds at a time.
This shot is a tele-macro shot, taken handheld at 4000mm equivalent using Digital Fine Zoom on the Nikon P900. I had to back off to the minimum focus distance of 16.5 feet to get the bug in focus. 1/500th @ ISO 140 @ f6.5. Processed in Lightroom.
River Jewelwing
River Jewelwing, Emmons Preserve, Kennebunkport ME
I took a photoprowl around the meadow loop at Emmons Preserve (Kennebunk Land Conservancy) yesterday morning. I was looking mostly for dragonflies, and on a somewhat tight schedule as I had to have the car back. One of the first dragonflies I saw was what I thought was a female Ebony Jewelwing, and up at the top of the meadow I photographed several…enough to inspire me to make a quick mile hike through the forest to the little set of falls on the Batson River where the males hang out. And there were males, hovering, dancing, and darting right over the rapids where the fall enters the pool, where I have seen them every year. I was a bit bemused though, as it is at least a month earlier than I have ever seen Ebony Jewelwings at Emmons Preserve…and this in a spring that is running late, even as we approach summer. Of course when I got back to the computer and processed the images I realized that they were not Ebony Jewelwings at all…they were River Jewelwings…a species I have never seen at Emmons, or anywhere else! The difference is that the Ebony Jewelwing has a completely back wing (bright black in the male, if that is a possible construction, and dull black in the female), River Jewelwings have black only at the tips of the males wings, and the female wings are smoky overall with perhaps a bit of darkening at the tips…though I could not observe any darkening at all. River Jewelwings! On my patch!
Female River Jewelwing
Nikon P900 at 550mm equivalent field of view. 1/250th @ ISO 100 @ f5. Processed and cropped for scale in Lightroom.
Chalk-fronted Corporal
Chalk-fronted Corporal, Day Brook Pond, Kennebunk Plains Wildlife Management Area, ME
I have never seen as many Chalk-fronted Corporals as I have this year. They are currently our most abundant dragonfly by a factor of ten. Of course it helps that they are fair sized and whitish so they show up well in almost any habitat, and their habit of perching for moments at a time makes them easy to photograph. This specimen perched on this interesting fungal formation long enough for a portrait.
Nikon P900 at 550mm equivalent field of view. 1/500th @ ISO 100 @ f5.6. Processed in Lightroom.
Tenerals at Day Brook Pond. Happy Sunday!
Teneral Dragonflies. Day Brook Pond, Kennebunk Plains Wildlife Management Area.
Day Brook Pond is rapidly becoming my favorite local place to visit. It is not far…less than 5 miles…and it is beautiful both in itself, as landscape, and in the wide variety of wildlife possible there. Right now, the dragon and damsel flies are emerging in great numbers…the most I have ever seen in Southern Maine…and every trip is a study in tenerals. “Teneral” is the technical term among Odonatist for the newly emerged dragons and damsels in their adult (flying) form. Odonata have one of the more complex lifecycles…going through many sub-adult aquatic forms, before emerging for flight, mating, and egg-laying. This panel shows, clockwise from the upper left, and as near as I can tell: Calico Pennant (likely a female), Mantled Baskettail (the only one I have ever seen perched), Slaty Skimmer, and a likely Lancet Clubtail, all on their maiden flights. There were full adults of all of these species present over the pond and along the edges, but they were not posing for pics yesterday 🙂
Nikon P900. Processed in Lightroom and assembled in Coolage.
Day Brook Pond. Kennebunk Plains Wildlife Management Area
The abundance and variety of tenerals at Day Brook Pond continues to amaze me. I will go back this afternoon to see what else I can find, and perhaps to catch some of the adults perching. The Pond is embedded in a large parcel (almost 2000 acres) of State, Nature Conservancy, and Kennebunk Land Trust holdings that make up the Kennebunk Plains Wildlife Management Area (home to the endangered Black Racer Snake and, come August, the largest stand of the endangered Northern Blazing Star flower in the world). It appears to be an exceptionally healthy pond. It is also undeniably beautiful in its quiet way. It is a place that makes me feel privileged to be alive, privileged to be able to enjoy such a place, such a season with emerging odonata, wildflowers, birds, and the tall skies of early summer. Blessed. Simply blessed. It is good to be alive. It is better to know it is good. Thank you God. Happy Sunday!