Monthly Archives: June 2021
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.
Long-dash Skipper
Long-dash Skipper: Kennebunk, Maine, USA — I think. Definitely a skipper, and definitely small, and in southern Maine in June. There are a few it could be and I am no expert, but I think this is a Long-dash. There were numbers flying around the drainage ponds at Southern Maine Health Center in Kennebunk on Saturday when I stopped by looking for dragonflies. Nikon B700 at 1440mm equivalent. Program mode with my custom birds and wildlife modifications. Processed in Polarr and Apple Photos.
Ebony Jewelwing
Ebony Jewelwing: Batson River at Emmon’s Preserve, Kennebunkport, Maine, USA — I rode my eTrike out to Emmon’s Preserve to see if I could find any dragonflies, and specifically to the check over the small tumble of falls on the Batson River for early Ebony Jewelwings. They will be more abundant in a few weeks, but there were a few pioneers flying over the rapids and rills. This one posed nicely on a leaf over the water, just at the close focus range of the Nikon B700’s 1440mm equivalent lens. Nikon’s Active-D Lighting does an excellent job of balancing highlights and shadows, which makes this kind of high contrast shot much more possible. Program mode with my custom birds and wildlife modifications. Processed in Polarr and Apple Photos.
Red-winged Blackbird
Red-winged Blackbird: Quest Ponds, Kennebunk, Maine, USA — This appears to be a young male, this year’s fledgling, Red-winged Blackbird. Note the red patches developing at the shoulders. He is learning his trade, helping dad to defend the territory, and he was actively practicing on me when I visited the drainage ponds at Southern Maine Medical Center here in Kennebunk. He hovered over my head, about 4 feet up, making sure I was aware of his displeasure at my being in the vicinity of the nest. I was just there hoping to photograph dragonflies around the pond and had no designs on his family…but, since he took such interest in me, I had to photograph him. 🙂 Fair is fair. Nikon B700 at 1440mm equivalent. Program mode with my custom birds and wildlife modifications. 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.