Monthly Archives: August 2012
Of Waxwings and Powdered Dancers: Life and Death in the Grass
I have wondered, often, why, with so many dragon and damselflies in residence at Quest Pond, there are not more birds. Of course maybe I just answered my own question, in reverse. Maybe there are so many dragon and damselflies at Quest Pond because there are few birds there. ?? Still, I was not surprised to see a couple of largish birds swooping over the far end of the pond the other day…I was more surprised to see what they were when they came up to the end of the pond where I was. Cedar Waxwings.
There were three, and they set up in an exposed medium-sized ornamental maple at the edge of the pond, and flew out to take bugs just off the ground, then up to the overhanging branches at the edge of the forest that starts 250 feet from the pond’s edge on that side. Then back again. Back and forth, taking insects on about every other swoop. On the perch they were on high alert all the time, watching air above the grass for prey.
Cedar Waxwings are fascinating, and beautiful birds. The silky feathers, the bright colors, the black mask, the big bold eye…what is not to like? Several times as I maneuvered around to get photographs, the Waxwings came within inches of me on the wing. It was exciting. I now realize that my passage through the grass was stirring up the prey, and facilitating their hunt.
What they were catching were Powdered Dancers. I had noticed, and even photographed, these strange damselflies over my days at the pond. They are everywhere in the grass and trees around the pond…by far the most numerous single species. They flutter…they stumble…through the air in weak flights of a few yards at a time. When you compare their flight to, say, a Familiar Bluet…which flies like a high powered, laser guided, helicopter…wings a blur, forward, backward, up, down…effortlessly moving in perfectly straight lines to its goal…you could be forgiven for thinking the Dancers are not damselflies at all. If you get close enough for a photograph (or even a good look) though, you see that they are unmistakably damsels…if rather dull ones.
Most of what I see are the females, and all of them are Powdered Dancers. I have only found a few males. They seem to keep closer to the water, low in the vegetation right at the edge, and I have not see a single one in flight.
Which, of course, is just as well for them when the Cedar Waxwings are in attendance.
There are, in fact, so many Powdered Dancer females around the pond that I do not fear the health of their population if the Cedar Waxwings take a few…on every other pass. It looks to be hard work for the Waxwings for minimum reward (the Dancers are not very big). In fact, I have not seen the Waxwings since that day, so very likely they decided there were easier pickings else where…some fruit tree or berry bush coming into season maybe. Still the drama was very interesting to watch while it was on…and both the Cedar Waxwings and the Dancers have their own unique attractions.
Canon SX40HS. Program with iContrast and –1 EV exposure compensation. Processed in Lightroom for intensity, clarity, and sharpness.
Again the Blazing Star, Kennebunk Plains
Northern Blazing Star is one of the endangered plants that earned the Kennebunk Plains their protected status. It is certainly a striking plant, and, of course, well worth preserving here in Maine. And worth a second post (I featured the plant on Monday).
This shot is of buds about to open. I like the pattern of closed bud, and I like the fur catching the light on the stems.
The second shot, on the other hand, is the flower full open. Note the range of subtle hues.
Canon SX40HS. Program with iContrast and –1 EV exposure compensation. 32mm macro equivalent, 1) f4 @ 1/1000th @ ISO 100. 2) f4.5@ 1/1250th @ ISO 100.
Processed in Lightroom for intensity, clarity, and sharpness.
Polyphemus Rescue (maybe)
On my Tuesday photopowl I had to make a stop at the grocery store. When I came back out I found this Polyphemus moth lying helpless on its side on the sidewalk near the bicycle rack where had chained up my electric scooter. This is a big moth…6 inches from wing-tip to wing-tip.
I thought it might be dead, but when I picked it up, and put it on my scooter seat for safety while I decided what to do with it (and how I could get some pictures), it fluttered down on its own energy. It was clearly weak and disorientated (perhaps stunned from an impact, and/or confused by the daylight) and had difficulty getting off its side. However, when I moved it to the shade under some trees at the edge of the parking lot, it righted itself and vibrated its wings very rapidly. I think that was a defense action. After grabbing a few shots, I moved it to deeper vegetation well back from the parking lot, where it was darker, and where there was no chance it would be stepped on by a passing shopper.
Polyphemus, like most of the big moths, do not eat as adults and only live two weeks at the longest. It is, of course, possible, even likely, that this Polyphemus was simply on its last legs anyway, and did not survive the night. In the slightly closer view you can see the very bushy antennas, which mark this specimen as a male.
Canon SX40HS. Program with iContrast and –1 EV exposure compensation. 1) 24mm macro, plus 1.5x digital tel-converter function. f4 @ 1/160th @ ISO 100. 2) 1240mm equivalent. f5.8 @ 1/1000th @ ISO 250.
Processed in Lightroom for intensity, clarity, and sharpness.
Yellow Garden Spider with Widow Skimmer Wing
If you don’t like spiders you might want to look away!
I was making a lunch hour photoprowl on my Pondhawk-green electric scooter yesterday, walking around Quest Pond to see if any new dragonflies were out, when my work phone rang. I sat down on the bank as it looked like it might be a lengthy call (a three way conference call, and you know how those go) and right there, not 5 feet in front of me in the reeds bordering the pond, just at my sitting eyelevel, was this spider in its web with prey. I could not see, holding the camera up with one hand as I talked, what exactly the spider had caught, but I suspected it was a dragonfly…what else at Quest Pond? It is actually the wing of Widow Skimmer…which has even less meat on it than a chicken wing. I hope the spider was not wanting more than a snack.
For non spider fans, this is the common Yellow Garden Spider, and despite its fierce looks and large size (this female was close to an inch long in the body), it is actually not a bad neighbor, as it generally dines on insects we like even less. I have mixed feelings about the Widow Skimmer…but if was going to take any dragonfly, there are certainly enough Widow Skimmers at Quest Pond this summer so that one will not be missed. If you can get by the fact that it is a spider, you have to admit there is a certain attraction to the bold yellow and black pattern…kind of like police tape at a disaster scene 🙂
And yes, it was a lengthy call.
Canon SX40HS. Program with iContrast and –1 EV exposure compensation. 1240mm equivalent field of view (840mm optical plus 1.5x digital tel-converter function). f5.8 @ 1/640th @ ISO 125.
Processed in Lightroom for intensity, clarity, and sharpness.
Calico Pennant
If the Calico Pennant were a bit bigger, it would almost certainly rank as one of the most stunning of Dragonflies. The cherry red and lacquered black diamond body design…the red saddlebags with their intricate orange veining, ten wing spots and four bright pink Pterostigma (those spots near the wing tips)…it is quite the bug!
However, it is so small, by comparison to some of the dragonflies it is likely to be found among, that it’s beauty can easily be overlooked. This specimen is only about an inch and a half long, very likely larger on your screen than it is in life.
If you will allow me to get all Odonata geeky on you for a moment, those pterostigma are interesting. They are thicker, heavier wing cells ideally placed to damp out the vibration that would otherwise set up in the wing as the dragongly glided. Without the pterostigma, both the speed and length of the possible glide would decrease by 10 to 15%. And you thought (and I thought until this morning when I looked them up) they were just little pink spots.
I have only ever seen the Calico perched up like this twice. Most of the time I find them perched only inches from the ground…on some slightly protruding grass stem.
While these were all taken along the edge of Quest Pond, my only other image of a Calico was taken on the Kennebunk Plains, literally a mile from the nearest body of water.
Canon SX40HS. Program with iContrast and –1 EV exposure compensation. 1680mm equivalent field of view (840mm optical plus 2x digital tel-converter function). 1-3) f5.8 @ 1/1000th @ ISO 250-320. 4) 1/200th @ ISO 125.
Processed in Lightroom for intensity, clarity, and sharpness.
Blazing Star, Kennebunk Plains
On Saturday I went back out to the Kennebunk Plains to see how the Northern Blazing Star is doing. When I was there two weeks ago there were a few early plants in bloom, and the promise of a very good year for the endangered plant.
And it is a good year by all appearances. The stands are healthy, blossoms are plentiful. I have no way of judging whether the plants are spreading, but the stands that are there seem denser this year, and I am going to take that as a good sign. I suspect this sand plains habitat was once more extensive in New England and Maine, when wildfire was not as controlled, and that the endangered status is as much for the habitat itself as for the Blazing Star that grows there.
The first shot here is an extreme telephoto macro, using the full zoom on the Canon SX40HS plus the 2x digital tel-converter function for the equivalent field of view of a 1680mm lens on a full frame DSLR. The depth of field, however, is that of a 150mm lens. It produces an interesting macro effect. f5.8 @ 1/500th @ ISO 125. Program with iContrast and –1/3EV exposure compensation.
2) about 170mm equivalent field of view. f4.5 @ 1/800th @ ISO 100. 3) 840mm equivalent. f5.8 @ 1/1000th @ ISO 200. 4) 24mm equivalent, f4 @ 1/1250th @ ISO 100. Canon SX40HS. Program with iContrast and –1/3EV exposure compensation.
Processed in Lightroom for intensity, clarity, and sharpness.
Quest Pond, Pondhawks, and other wonders for Sunday!
As I mentioned yesterday, my mother-in-law introduced me to a new little pond this week. It is your standard industrial drainage pond, part of the drainage system for a small industrial park, augmented by the fact that the whole facility was built on a pad of fill in more or less wetland and the water has to go somewhere. It is the last in a series of ponds and French drains on the property and it is remarkably healthy for a drainage pond.
The thin boarder of reeds and other water plants along the edge, the grassy verge, the exposed rocks and the gravel path around the pond, and the backing of trees and shrubs, make it ideal Odonata habitat, with easy access for photography as well…and indeed it is alive with dragon and damselflies. The number of species is impressive, but the number of individuals, for Southern Maine, is even more impressive. In several visits over the past two days I have seen:
Green Darner (15-20 at all times over pond and the grassy verge)
Eastern Pondhawk (both male and female in large numbers, 30 or more of each)
Twelve-spotted Skimmer (about the same numbers as Green Darners)
Widow Skimmer (many males and one female so far)
Common Whitetail (males only, and only two that I have seen)
Black Saddlebags (5-10, but very aggressive, and very present)
Blue Dasher (30 or more, and a few so small I am trying to make them into Elfin Dasher or Blue Dragonlets)
Eastern Amberwing (half a dozen)
A single female White-faced Meadowhawk
And one spectacular, and very red, Calico Pennant.
Then you have the damsels:
Azure Bluet for sure.
Familiar Bluet
Orange Bluet (I think)
Eastern Forktail
Slender Spreadwing
And bunches of sprites down on the floating vegetation that I have not begun to sort.
It is an Odonata lover’s feast! This is not a big pond…so watching this man dragonfies over the water at any given time is like watching a soccer match with no goals and no rules. When I close my eyes to sleep at night, my inner vision is full of darting shapes against the light.
I was especially delighted to find a newly emerged Green Darner on Friday. You never get a chance to photograph a Green Darner…oh, maybe a female hung up waiting on a mate, or a mating wheel…both of those I have from California…but not an individual Green unless they are newly emerged and not yet ready for flight.
And the Eastern Pondwalks are rapidly becoming one of may favorite dragonflies. Both male and female are striking in their own ways. The male in the lead image shows off the green face and the subtle blue pruinescence (powdery frost) covering the green body, while the female, without the pruinescence. is exactly the same shade of green as my electric scooter.
This pond is also the first place I have seen Dragonfly cases…the shells left when Dragonflies emerge from the last larva stage. The Green Darners climb high up on reeds or bushes for the transformation, and the shells remain attached to the reed by those strong legs until a sufficiently powerful wind knocks them loose. When I first saw them, I could not imagine what in the world kind of bug they were! With the low sun of late afternoon behind them they have a bizarre (maybe a bit creepy even) beauty of their own.
You will be seeing lots more of the Odonata wonders of Quest Pond over the coming days, I am sure.
And for the Sunday thought. If someone had told me a year ago that the highlight of my 2012 summer would be the discovery of new drainage pond at an industrial estate…
Well, actually I might not have found it that hard to believe given my past experience and what I know about myself, but it does sound unlikely on the face of it.
And, of course, except for the dragonflies and damselflies I would probably not have given Quest Pond a second look. just another drainage pond. And think of what I would have missed!
That is the thing about being awake in the world. Here I am at almost 65 years old (August 14th) and still learning…still finding new stuff to feed the wonder and the delight of being alive. Me and my Pondhawk green electric scooter pulling up to the pond on a sunny afternoon, with my white beard and with my camera on my hip and my Tilly hat hung down my back behind my emerald green helmet…must be quite a sight. But that’s okay. I am having fun.
And it is not like I am finding anything new…all these bugs have been seen and even photographed…by people who know a lot more about them than I do…people who have devoted, or are devoting, their working lives to getting to know everything there is to know about Odonata. I depend on them for what little I know. But, the fact is, this is all new for me…I have never seen and never photographed these bugs…this peculiar beauty…so it fills me with the delight of discovery.
And I think that is the key to being awake. I think our spirits require a constant diet of discovery…I think we are driven to keep exploring this world, these creatures that share it, ourselves, those we know and those we love…to find the newness in it all…the new every day…to find the beauty. I think we are driven, I know I am driven, to share it in these words and photographs. It is my spiritual act. It is the action of my spirit, to bring Quest Pond and Pondhawks and empty dragonfly cases to your attention this morning, confident that those who are in touch with the same spirit, the loving spirit of creation, the spirit of all that is new and all that we can discover…will find the delight in them…will see the beauty…will experience the love. Happy Sunday!
Least Skipper
My mother-in-law was over for my wife, Carol’s, birthday on Thursday, and told me about this pond on the grounds of the new medical center that I had not been aware of. It seems to be part of the “facilities” of Quest Fitness, which is in the Medical Center, so I am calling it Quest Pond. I took my first photoprowl on the electric scooter there yesterday morning. Besides lots of damselfly action, and the promise of dragonflies as it warmed, there were hundreds of these tiny skippers in the reeds along the edge of the pond. They would flit up high enough to see them, and then quickly settle back deep in the reeds.
They are the smallest skippers I have ever seen…though their bright orange wings make them a bit more conspicuous. It seems fitting that they are Least Skippers…I can not imagine one much smaller. How small? The extended wings average 1 inch, so folded up here, this fellow is about 1/2 inch tall, and about the same in length. Small.
Notice the striped antennas and pug like face. Too cute.
With some persistence I was able to find a couple of specimens posed with a line of sight into the reed bed and get a couple of images…at the extreme end of the zoom plus 2x digital tel-converter function for 1680mm of equivalent reach.
Canon SX40HS. Program with iContrast and –1/3EV exposure compensation. As above, f5.8 @ 1/200th @ ISO 250 and 500. Processed in Lightroom for intensity, clarity, and sharpness.
Boneset Grazing
This is actually Boneset (Eupatorium perfoliatum), which I perhaps incorrectly identified earlier in the week as Ironweed. I find pictures of this same flower with both labels on the internet, though they are members of totally different families. I am suspecting the Ironweed name has gotten applied to both plants, because of the similarity in the flowers and growth habits. Boneset is a large showy plant I see growing mostly in dryer areas near water…and a magnet for insects of all types. This specimen is at Factory to Pasture Pond in Kennebunk, where there is a good sized, though isolated, stand of it. I have been watching it daily to see when the bugs would start coming.
I was actually photographing this Monarch on the same plant, when the bee flew in. Twofer!
Canon SX40HS. Program with iContrast and –1/3EV exposure compensation. 1240mm equivalent field of view. f5.8 @ 1/200th and 1/400th @ ISO 160 and 400. Processed in Lightroom for intensity, clarity, and sharpness.
Spot-winged Glider
The Gliders have the widest distribution of any family of Dragonflies. The Wandering Glider, a close relative of this Spot-winged, has the widest range, world-wide, of any dragonfly. It populates the latitudes between 40 south and 40 north (with the exception of most of Europe for some reason), and wanders over the boarder in both directions, repopulating areas every summer where it is too cold for it to winter.
As I say, this one is not a Wandering Glider, but a Spot-winged Glider, the only other member of the Genius Pantala (Rain-pool gliders). The Spot-winged appears have much same range as the Wandering, but is limited to the Americas. I found this one near the rain-pools along the Kennebunk Bridle Path. Fancy that!
The second shot shows the “spots” on the hind-wing that give it its name. They are more developed on some specimens. This shot also shows the other things that really caught my eye…the very bright, and seemingly very large, rust-red eyes…and the way the head is articulated on a very thin, and relatively long, proto-thorax (neck). It makes the head look hollow, with the eyes wrapping so far back. Of course it may be emphasized by the angle of the shot, but it was also very obvious in the field…very odd looking.
In the third shot, notice slightly upturned abdomen (tail) which is characteristic of perched Gliders.
And one more close up, just for fun.
Canon SX40HS. Program with iContrast and –1/3EV exposure compensation. 1680mm, 1240mm and 840mm equivalent fields of view. f5.8 @ 1/500th to 1/640th @ mostly ISO 160.
Processed in Lightroom for intensity, clarity, and sharpness.