I intended to get back to Emmon’s Preserve and the little tumbling falls on the Batson River in early August to catch the mating dance of the Ebony Jewelwings that live there, but the press of affairs (as they say) and the fact that we were a car down from mid-July to mid-August kept me from it until yesterday afternoon. There are still Ebony Jewelwings by the rapids, but the mating flights were all over.

Still, an Ebony Jewelwing is a an Ebony Jewelwing…with that unmistakable bright metallic green body flashing in the patches of sun in the forest and over the stream. Except, of course, when it is electric blue.

While you could be forgiven for thinking this is a different species, this is the same bug, just in different light. When the bug moves on, it will be green again. This is a much rarer view, generally you only get a glimpse of this look as the Jewelwing settles briefly in the necessary light, and then flits on. The emerald green is what you see 96% of the time.

Canon SX40HS. Program with iContrast. 1680mm equivalent field of view. 1) –1/3EV exposure compensation, f5.8 @ 1/200th @ ISO 160. 2) –1/3EV exposure compensation. f5.8 @ 1/1000th @ ISO 320. Processed in Lightroom for intensity, clarity, and sharpness.