{"id":9124,"date":"2016-07-27T07:00:18","date_gmt":"2016-07-27T11:00:18","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/p4td.lightshedder.com\/?p=9124"},"modified":"2016-07-27T07:00:56","modified_gmt":"2016-07-27T11:00:56","slug":"9124","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/psnp.info\/p4td_\/?p=9124","title":{"rendered":"Shadow Darner?"},"content":{"rendered":"

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Shadow Darner? Smith’s Preserve, Kennebunkport Maine<\/p><\/div>\n

Here at the height of a unusually hot summer in Southern Maine, we have fewer dragonflies than I remember from last year. I went to Emmon’s Preserve in Kennebunkport yesterday in hopes of finding Mosaic Darners patrolling the meadows, but there were none at all. Lots of mosquitoes…probably, in part at least, because there were no dragons. The Mosaic Darners are among my favorite dragons. They big and generally boldly marked, and there is a certain elegance to their wasp wasted look and elaborate male appendages.<\/p>\n

When I found little to photograph (and the sun very hot) in the open meadows at Emmon’s, I decided to drive the mile or so to Smith’s Preserve, where the trails are shaded by the forest. Parking is limited at Smith’s, and sometimes completely taken up by SUVs with bike racks, as the trails are very popular with mountain bikers. (SUVs with bike racks…that is a sad comment on our times.) I did find a place\u00a0to park (the last one). It was quiet at Smith’s as well, though there was more bird song, and it was considerably cooler, and I did spot this Mosaic Darner patrolling a section of the trail. It hung up on a small pine along the side, and I was able to work my way close enough for a photo.\u00a0I am thinking this is a Shadow Darner, but I could be wrong.<\/p>\n

The light was not ideal in the deep shade, so this image is taken at ISO 1250. (1\/250th @ f4 @ 541mm equivalent, zoomed back a bit to fit the full bug in). During processing in Lightroom, I ran it through the NIK Define 2 filter to eliminate some of the noise.<\/p>\n

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