Posts in Category: butterflies and insects
Close in with a Saffron-winged Meadowhawk
Saffron-winged Meadowhawk. Fernald Brook Pond, Kennebunk ME
In the cooler weather of fall the Meadowhawks are spending more time in sitting in the sun during the day…soaking up heat. They are more approachable this time of year. This shot was taken at 48mm equivalent field of view from about 6 inches. And even then the bug did not fly. It was still there when I left. It is a Saffron-winged Meadowhawk, a species I had never seen in Maine (or anywhere else) until this summer…and this summer they are everywhere I go. It was, in fact, one of two dragonflies I photographed in a few days in the thumb of Michigan. Everywhere!
Sony HX90V. 1/320th @ ISO 80 @ f4.5. Processed and cropped slightly for scale in Lightroom.
Tailed Blue
Tailed Blue, Grange Insurance Audubon Center, Columbus OH
I mentioned yesterday that I had a good bug day, with several species of both butterflies and dragonflies. This is, I believe, an Eastern Tailed Blue. It is a tiny butterfly, only about 3/4 of an inch from wingtip to wingtip. There were two, doing their rapid Blue spieling dance over a grassy path. I just about gave up on getting a pic, when both of them settled out and sat long enough for a few shots.
Nikon P900 at 600mm equivalent field of view. 1/500th @ ISO 100 @ f5. Processed and cropped for scale in Lightroom.
Green Darner up close
Green Darner Dragonfly, Grange Insurance Audubon Center, Columbus OH
By the time I got out for a walk at the American Birding Expo at Grange Insurance Audubon Center in Columbus Ohio things were quiet on the bird front…but there certainly were a lot of bugs. I saw at least 7 species of butterflies, and four species of dragons. This Green Darner, the largest Dragonfly in North America, was perching along the grassy wetlands trail below the Center. Due to the focus limitations of the Nikon P900, I had to back up quite a ways to get this shot…taken full frame using the Perfect Image Zoom function at a 3600mm equivalent field of view. Handheld!
It certainly shows off the amazingly intricate structure of the dragonfly.
Nikon P900 at 3600mm equivalent field of view. 1/500th @ ISO 250 @ f6.5. Processed in Lightroom.
Monarch in Asters
Monarch, East Point, Biddeford Pool, Maine
East Point in Biddeford Pool Maine forms one boundary where the Saco River (or perhaps more exactly, Saco Bay) meets the open Atlantic. It is directly across a narrow channel from Wood Island and Wood Island Light. Perhaps because it sticks out into the ocean a ways and has some interesting vegetation, it is always a good spot to find butterflies, and Monarchs in the fall in particular. This seems to be a particularly large specimen, caught foraging among the New England Asters growing along the edge and in the under-story of a large stand of wild rose and other plants. From the overall brightness of the bug I am tempted to say it is freshly emerged, but in this close view you can see some wear on the wings…which might make it a migrant from further north.
Sony HX90V at 1440mm equivalent field of view (using 2x Clear Image Zoom). 1/250th @ ISO 320 @ f6.4. Processed in Lightroom.
Monarch on the edge of fall
Monarch Butterfly. Wells National Estuarine Research Center at Laudholm Farms, Wells ME
Laudholm Farms was one of the first places in the area to devote significant amounts of their meadow land to milkweed, and, consequently, it is one of the easiest places to see Monarch butterflies. This year has not been a great year for Monarchs, if you go by the number I have see at Laudholm and elsewhere around my patch, but I did find this large specimen working the Goldenrod in the meadows below and left of the farm buildings. It seems late to me…this image was captured just a few days before the equinox…but perhaps it is a migrant from further north fueling up for the flight south.
Sony HX90V at 720mm equivalent field of view. 1/400th @ ISO 80 @ f6.4. Processed and cropped for scale and composition in Lightroom.
Steampunk Express
Giant Red-legged Grasshopper, Laudholm Farm, Wells ME
Who knew there were so many species of grasshoppers? I certainly did not until this morning when I attempted to identify this very steampunk bug. (According to the Kaufman Guide, there are 630 species of grasshoppers and crickets in North America.) I think it might be a very big Red-legged Grasshopper, but it also might be a Two-stripped Grasshopper…or not. It was among the bigger grasshoppers I have seen…at least 3 inches long. There were too…this one with the bright reg legs and another very similar but without the bright red legs. Male and female? I just don’t know my Grasshoppers well enough.
Whatever it is, as a study in living architecture, it is spectacular. (Or that is what I think.) Steampunk for sure!
Sony HX90V at 720mm equivalent. 1/500th @ ISO 80 @ f6.4. Processed and cropped for scale in Lightroom.
Pelecinid Wasp is strange all over!
Pelecinid Wasp, Day Brook Pond, Kennebunk Plains Wildlife Management Area, Maine
It has been at least a year, and it may have been two, since I encountered a Pelecinid Wasp. My first sighting was at Emmons Preserve in Kennebunkport. This one came from Day Brook Pond on the Kennebunk Plains Wildlife Management Area. I was surprised to see it fly across the path in front of me and land in a small birch at the edge of the forest…but there is no mistaking this very strange bug with its extended abdomen trailing out behind a body with such small wings that it seems totally impossible that the thing could fly. The long abdomen is used to inject eggs into scarab beetle larvae while they are still underground. Close up, the hind legs feature strange bulges, which have no apparent use. Stranger still, almost all Pelecinid Wasps seen or collected in North America are females. Males, with a shorter, swollen abdomen, only account for 4% of sightings. It is possible that female wasps develop from unfertilized eggs…and that would make them very strange indeed, as insects just do not do that. But then, if that is case…why are there any males at all? Strange. The Pelecinid is strange all over.
Sony HX90V at about 1400mm equivalent field of view (using Clear Image digital Zoom). 1/250th @ ISO 400 @ f6.4. Processed in Lightroom.
Rare (for me) Meadowhawks
Saffron-winged Meadowhawk, Day Brook Pond, Kennebunk Plains Wildlife Management Area
Band-winged Meadowhawk, Kennebunk Bridle Path, Kennebunk ME
It might be my imagination, but it seems to me that the Sympetrum dragons are late emerging this year. Suddenly there at tiny red Meadowhawks everywhere…most of which look to me to be Cherry-faced. And, despite its being after the 1st of September, I have yet to see any number of Autumn. I did find, on opposite sides of Kennebunk, two Meadowhawks that I see much more rarely. At Day Brook Pond on the Kennebunk Plains Wildlife Management Area, most of the Meadowhawks in flight were Saffron Winged, which is only my second sighting in Maine. And, within a few days I found Band-winged Meadowhawks along the Kennebunk Bridle Path by the lower Mousam River, again, only my second sighting of this dragon in Maine. Each is an interesting variation on the Sympetrum theme 🙂
Sony HX90V at 1440mm equivalent (using 2x Clear Image Zoom). Both shots 1/250 @ ISO 160 @ f6.4. Processed in Lightroom.
Canada (NOT! actually a Lance-tipped) Darner
Lance-tipped Darner, Emmon Preserve, Kennebunkport ME
For some reason, the meadows behind and above the Kennebunkport Land Conservancy buildings at Emmons Preserve are one the best places for darners in my patch of Southern Maine. I have seen at least 5 species there, though what species is dominant varies from year to year. Last year they were all Black-tipped. Some years Green-stripped. This year, mostly Canada. (since this is actually a Lance-tipped Darner, I am not so sure now 🙂 I have also seen the occasional Shadow there and Springtime. Green-stripped and Canada are hard to distinguish, and I am only mostly sure this is a Canada. I am willing to be corrected by those who know better. 🙂 There were many more darners in flight during my visit, including at least one smaller, darker darner, but this Lance-tipped is the only one I caught perching.
Sony HX90V at 720mm equivalent field of view. 1/250th @ ISO 160 @ f6.3. Processed and cropped for composition in Lightroom.
Late Calico Pennant
Calico Pennant, Day Brook Pond, Kennebunk Plains Wildlife Management Area, ME
By this late in the summer, most of the Calico Pennants you see are well worn, with tattered wings, and somewhat brittle looking abdomens. This specimen, from the shores of Day Brook Pond on the Kennebunk Plains Wildlife Management Area, seems relatively fresh. Either it managed to survive without visible signs of the day to day battle, or it emerged late.
Sony HX90V at around 1200mm equivalent field of view (with some digital Clear Image zoom). 1/250th @ ISO 250 @ f6.4. Processed and cropped for composition in Lightroom.