![](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/psnp.info\/p4td_\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/08\/DSC06036-2-1.jpg?resize=904%2C603\")
Eastern Amberwing, Quest Ponds, Kennebunk Maine<\/p><\/div>\n
There is a poem.<\/p>\n
I got out to one of my dragonfly ponds
\ntoday, for a photoprowl. Mid-80s and
\nclear, but with enough breeze to make
\nit tolerable…pleasant actually…and lots
\nof dragons and damsels doing their thing
\naround the pond. Eastern Amberwings,
\nmy first this year, not much bigger than
\na bee, but holding their own among
\ndragons 4 times their size…flying low
\nto the water like orange sparks, resting
\non floating clumps, clots of algae, males
\nand females playing tag across the pond.<\/p>\n
I kept hoping one would land close in
\nto shore for a photo, but they held well
\nout, busy with Amberwing concerns,
\nand I had to settle for distant shots…
\nso little they are, they hardly show
\nin the frame, and wouldn’t at all if they
\nwere any other color. Amberwings.
\nAnd that says all you need to know.<\/p>\n
One of my favorite Dragonflies and one of the smallest. A skimmer. The males like this one have bright orange wings…the females have clear wings with orange\/brown spots…the same color as the body. Like all skimmers, they take no guff from anyone…including the much larger Green Darners and Black-saddlebags that frequent the same ponds in our area…not to mention the Twelve-spotted and Widow Skimmers. You rarely see them more than a few inches above the water, so they only really share airspace with the Azure Bluets with abound at this time of year.<\/p>\n
Sony RX10iii at 600mm equivalent field of view. 1\/320th @ ISO 100 @ f4. Cropped heavily for scale (about equivalent to 1200mm field of view) and processed in Lightroom.<\/p>\n
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