Posts in Category: dragonflies
Business end of Slaty Skimmer
Slaty Skimmer: Day Brook Pond, Kennebunk Plains Wildlife Management Area, Kennebunk, Maine, USA — It was unusually hot yesterday for southern Maine, and there were lots of the common dragonflies out and active at Day Brook Pond. Slaty Skimmers now outnumber Spangled, but both are still there in good numbers. Perhaps because of the heat, the Slatys were perching a lot…and this one landed too close for a telephoto shot. I decided to see how close it would let me get and switched to macro focus on my Nikon B700, flipped out the LCD so I could see, and leaned in. This was taken at 97mm equivalent, at the outer limit of the macro focus, from about 4 inches. Not an identification shot, but interesting all the same. 🙂 Program mode and processed in Polarr and Apple Photos.
Pygmy Clubtail
Northern Pygmy Clubtail (?): Branch Brook, Kennebunk, Maine, USA. — It is always fun to find a new (to me) dragonfly on my rambles around the back roads of York County Maine. Every time I cross Branch Brook on my eTadpole recumbent trike, which is generally at least once a week as the bridge is on one of my “go to” exercise loops, I think that I should stop and explore the stream for dragonflies…and yesterday, since I was in no great hurry in the unaccustomed heat, I finally did it. I only found two dragonflies, a female Ebony Jewelwing, and this tiny clubtail, which is new to me. Looking at the photos, and considering the location, it is clearly a Pygmy Clubtail, and I am pretty sure it is a Northern. However, the watershed where I found it is one of the few with a confirmed presence of Southern Pygmy Clubtail in Maine, and my AI tools consistently ID it as Southern. To my eye there is more than one strip on the thorax, which, according to Paulson, makes it Northern…but I can not be 100% sure. Anyone who knows better is welcome to chime in. Nikon B700 at 135mm macro and 1440mm telephoto equivalents. Program mode. Processed in Polarr and Apple Photos.
Common Green Darner
Common Green Darner: Sanford Lagoons, Sanford, Maine, USA — Not a great photo as I was at a fair distance and shooting through obstructive foreground plants, but, in my experience, a rare photo. I never…well, almost never…see Common Green Darner perched. They seem to be in perpetual flight, at least during daylight hours. I have a few shots of Green Darner mating wheels, and one of a Green Darner female ovipositing…but this might be only individual I have seen just settled out and resting in many years of looking. And, of course, when I tried to work my way down the bank for a less obstructed view, it was off instantly. Even in flight the Common Green Darner is hard to miss. It is not the largest Dragonfly in North America…the Giant Darner of the Southwest is bigger…but it is certainly the largest we have here in the Northeast, and that green body and bright blue abdomen stand out in almost any light. Nikon B700 at 1440mm equivalent. Program mode with my custom birds and wildlife modifications. Processed in Polarr and Apple Photos.
Just for fun! Spangled Skimmer. Happy Father’s Day!
Spangled Skimmer: Day Brook Pond, Kennebunk Plains Wildlife Management Area, Kennebunk, Maine, USA — I have mentioned that the Spangled Skimmer is one of my favorite dragonflies. This is not a good identification photo. I have lots of those. But this is among my favorite photos of a favorite dragonfly. The “Hay, what’s up?” pose, the angle of the light, and the interesting background just combine to make me smile. And a smile is good on a Sunday, Father’s Day. I hope all you fathers are smiling…and all you children of fathers as well. Nikon B700 at 1440mm equivalent. Program mode with my custom birds and wildlife modifications. Processed in Polarr and Apple Photos.
Slaty Skimmer
Slaty Skimmer: Day Brook Pond, Kennebunk Plains Wildlife Management Area, Kennebunk, Maine, USA — Evidently they Spangled Skimmers fly before the Saltys…as we have had Spangled for at least a week at the pond, before I saw my first Slaty yesterday. Now that the Saltys are flying, they will dominate the pond for months, outnumbered only by the smaller Calico Skimmers. Nikon B700 at 1440mm equivalent. Program mode with my custom birds and wildlife modifications. Processed in Polarr and Apple Photos.
Widow Skimmer
Widow Skimmer: Alwive Pond Preserve, West Kennebunk, Maine, USA — This is the first Widow Skimmer I have seen this season…along the edge of Alwive Pond, well out over the bog where a long telephoto lens is a necessity. 🙂 This would appear to be a juvenile male. Nikon B700 at 1440mm equivalent. Program mode with my custom birds and wildlife modifications. Processed in Polarr and Apple Photos.
Black-shouldered Spinyleg
Black-shouldered Spinyleg: Alwive Pond Preserve, West Kennebunk, Maine, USA — This dragonfly always takes me by surprise. This is actually only maybe the third one that I have seen, and this individual is particularly bright yellow. And it is big! When I first saw it I thought it was a Dragonhunter…but on closer examination there is just too much yellow. 🙂 (I have only ever seen one Dragonhunter.) A nice dragon to see. I encountered it in the middle of the trail (more a wood road) down to Alwive Pond, and it was still there, patrolling the same area on my way back out. Nikon B700 at 1440mm equivalent. Program mode with my custom birds and wildlife modifications. Processed in Polarr and Apple Photos.
Female Spangled Skimmer
Spangled Skimmer: Emmon’s Preserve, Kennebunkport, Maine, USA. — I saw two Spangled Skimmers at Day Brook Pond the other day, both males, and two Spangled Skimmers along the meadow edge at Emmon’s Preserve on Sunday, bot females. I think the difference is the distance from the water. It is my impression, and I could be wrong, that the females often forage further from the water than the males…though that seems counterintuitive. At any rate, whatever gender, and wherever found, the Spangled Skimmer is still one of my favorite dragonflies. Nikon B700 at 1440mm equivalent. Program mode with my custom birds and wildlife modifications (for this camera). Processed in Polarr and Apple Photos.
Spangled Skimmer
Spangled Skimmer: Day Brook Pond, Kennebunk Plains Wildlife Management Area, Maine, USA — The Spangled Skimmer is one of my favorite dragonflies to see in flight. The white stigma near the wing-tips reflect the sun and draw intricate spirograph patterns around the moving dragon. (Do they still make spirographs? I had hours of fun with mine as a child.) And, like most skimmers, they perch nicely for photos. This one landed closer than the 1440mm zoom on the Nikon B700 will focus so I had to back to to about 1000mm for this shot. Program mode with my custom birds and wildlife modifications. Processed in Polarr and Apple Photos.
Calico Pennant
Calico Pennant: Kennebunk Plains Wildlife Management Area, Kennebunk, Maine, USA — I find that I have to remind myself that, after the first dozen or so, I do not have to photograph every Calico Pennant I see…not even every male or every female Calico Pennant. There is such a thing as enough all ready with the Calico Pennants. Out at Day Brook Pond, a particularly health little “improved” beaver pone on the Kennebunk Plains, they are certainly abundant every year at this time, and will be present in smaller numbers all summer and into early fall…though I think they might be at their biggest and most robust right now. It seems to me that the later in the season, the smaller and less intense the Calico Pennants, but that may be a trick of my imagination. What we have here are one female and two male Calicos. One male is in classic Pennant pose, and the other is sun posting (obelisking) on what was our second day over 90 degrees in June so far. Nikon B700 at 1440mm equivalent. Program mode with my custom birds and wildlife modifications. Processed in Polarr and Apple Photos.