When Autumn Meadowhawk dragonflies (Sympetrum vicinum) have finished mating, the male does not release the female, but continues to clasp her head tightly with the tip of his abdomen. The pair flies off together in the “tandem” position and remains attached until the female has finished depositing her eggs, normally in the water.
A chivalrous interpretation of this behavior might be that the male is merely protecting his mate from clamoring suitors and allowing her to oviposit in peace. The reality, though, is that there is a fierce competition among males that can sometimes involve attempt to dislodge a rival’s sperm from a female and replace it with his own if the female has not yet laid her eggs. By holding onto the female, the male increases his odds of fathering some baby dragonflies.
Check out a 2006 National Georgraphic article called Dragonflies Strange Love for some other fascinating insights into the love life of dragonflies.
Earlier this month, I was at a small pool of water and I watched as a series of Autumn Meadowhawk couples in tandem went through the process of ovipositing and I attempted to get some in-flight shots of them. These dragonflies are really small and my success rate in keeping them in the frame was not high, but I did manage to get a few decent images.
Hopefully the practice in tracking a moving subject will carry over and help me as I move to photographing birds in flight, rather than dragonflies.
© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.
Mike Powell 
Mike, these are terrific. I think photographing BIF might be easier than this, at least it is for me.
Thanks, Sue. I’m hoping that BIF will be easier. I think that I’ll be able to use servo mode for the birds–I used mostly manual focus for the dragonflies. The good news with the dragonflies was that they tended to hover a bit, even though the female dipped down pretty frequently and quickly.
Those are pretty amazing photos. I’m surprised they can even fly that way. They remind me of planes refueling in the sky.
Now that you mention it, they really do look like planes doing in-flight refueling, which is a pretty amazing feat for aircraft.
Brilliant, I had some fun trying to photograph the same thing a back in the summer
I am always so amazed by the creatures that share our world.
I dread to think of all the shots you took to get these. Well done for your perseverance.