Dragonflies mating on a calf

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Dragonflies mating on a calf

October 22, 2013 by Mike Powell

There is something a little wistful about searching for the last dragonfly of the year. Most of the familiar dragonflies from the summer have disappeared and it looks like the sole remaining dragonfly in our area is the Autumn Meadowhawk dragonfly (Sympetrum vicinum).

Yesterday I spent some time trying to photograph this dragonfly along with fellow photographer and blogger Walter Sanford, who has an amazing collection of photographs of dragonflies on his blog site, including a world-class series on the Blue-faced Meadowhawk. I was willing to try to capture photos of any dragonfly that I could spot, but Walter noted that he had taken enough photos of the male Autumn Meadowhawk and was really interested in photographing females or, even better, mating pairs.

The mating pairs tended to elude him most of the day, until suddenly a pair in the “wheel” position circled around us and landed on his bare calf—talk about unprotected sex. There was no way that he could twist himself around to get a good photo, but I manage to get this shot of the two dragonflies in action.

Temperatures are supposed to continue to drop this week, so there is always a chance that these will be the last dragonflies that I see this year, though I will be out searching for them for weeks to come before I bid my final adieu to them.

Posted in Dragonflies, Humor, Insects, Macro Photography, Nature, Photography, wildlife | Tagged Alexandria VA, Autumn Meadowhawk dragonfly, Canon 50D, dragonflies, Huntley Meadows Park, mating dragonflies, Sympetrum vicinum, Tamron 180mm macro lens | 14 Comments

14 Responses

on October 22, 2013 at 9:31 am | Reply Mjollnir

Interesting shot! I don’t suppose Walter would have any idea what my mystery black d/f was? I’m still baffled! 😀
- on October 22, 2013 at 9:46 pm | Reply Mike Powell
  
  I am beginning to think that your mystery dragonfly may be a black darter (Sympetrum danae). It looks a bit like the dragonfly in this shot (http://stevenround-birdphotography.com/source/black-darter-04.html). From what I can, Norway seems to be in part of the dragonfly’s area.
  - on October 23, 2013 at 4:56 am Mjollnir
    
    Thanks for that Mike. Certainly the body shape and the single spot on the end of the wing would fit in even if mine was a bit darker. Good enough for me! 😀
on October 22, 2013 at 1:26 pm | Reply Lyle Krahn

Kind of ironic he couldn’t get the shot. Good story.
on October 22, 2013 at 5:34 pm | Reply tybeetabby

Cool shot. From your title I was expecting the dragonflies to be on a young cow. : 0
- on October 22, 2013 at 8:49 pm | Reply Mike Powell
  
  Thanks. I plead guilty to deliberately having a vague title that was intended to mislead folks (I should put a warning on my postings that I have a warped sense of humor).
on October 22, 2013 at 9:14 pm | Reply Sue

Not a shot you see often. The male doesn’t have much to hold onto–just a few hairs. Very nice macro!
- on October 22, 2013 at 9:16 pm | Reply Mike Powell
  
  They didn’t hang around for too long, but it was an unusual enough shot that I had to try to get it.
on October 23, 2013 at 11:35 am | Reply caleephotography

Very nice shot and good story, Mike! 🙂
- on October 23, 2013 at 7:56 pm | Reply Mike Powell
  
  Thanks. It is not necessarily the kind of photo that I usually post, but it was funny how the situation evolved and it was definitely unusual for them to perch on a person.
on October 25, 2013 at 12:14 pm | Reply waltersanford

Good shot, Mike! And thanks for the extraordinarily kind words re: my photos/photoblog! A *very* memorable experience.
- on October 25, 2013 at 6:13 pm | Reply Mike Powell
  
  You’re welcome. It was a funny incident and I thought it was worth sharing with the world.
on October 29, 2013 at 6:02 am | Reply I feel so violated! | walter sanford's photoblog

[…] The mating pair of dragonflies landed on me as I was standing on the boardwalk at Huntley Meadows Park with Mike Powell, fellow wildlife photographer. Mike had a better viewpoint than me for capturing the fleeting moment. Mike’s excellent close-up photo is featured in his photoblog post, “Dragonflies mating on a calf.” […]
on May 29, 2019 at 6:17 am | Reply Dancing cheek to cheek | Mike Powell

[…] photo that I have taken of a dragonfly perching on Walter. In October 2013 I did a posting entitled Dragonflies mating on a calf that featured a dragonfly couple mating on his bare lower […]