Ebony Jewelwing damselflies

May 30, 2015 by Mike Powell

Ebony Jewelwings (Calopteryx maculata) are one of the most distinctive and easily recognizable damselflies because of their dark wings and metallic bluish-green bodies. So why is the female damselfly in the first shot so pale and colorless?

When damselflies (and dragonflies) shed their exoskeletons and move from being water-dwelling nymphs to acrobatic flyers, they are initially pale in color, a stage known as “teneral.” In a short time, the wings harden and gradually the newly emerged damselflies, like this one, become more colorful and look more like the one in the second image.

As I was photographing this damselfly, it took off and I captured a somewhat blurry image of it in the air that I really like—it reminds me of a water color painting.

I must be in an “artsy” mood this morning, because one of the other images that I really like of the Ebony Jewelwing is this final one, in which the damselfly was perched at the end of a leaf with wings spread wide, displaying the intricate details of those delicate wings.

14 Responses

on May 30, 2015 at 11:28 am | Reply Sukanya Ramanujan

Wow! Fantastic photographs and very informative!
- on May 30, 2015 at 11:32 am | Reply Mike Powell
  
  Thanks. I love chasing after dragonflies and damselflies and usually afterwards have to search for information about them.
  - on May 30, 2015 at 11:36 am Sukanya Ramanujan
    
    I do that for butterflies but there’s so much to learn!
on May 30, 2015 at 1:54 pm | Reply Laura (PA Pict)

Stunning images. Wow!
on May 30, 2015 at 3:30 pm | Reply enmanscamera

Hey, this is a great series of well executed images. Well done and I’ll say that first photo blew me away!
- on May 30, 2015 at 4:09 pm | Reply Mike Powell
  
  Thanks, John. I am experimenting with taking insect photos like this season with my 150-600mm telephoto zoom lens (on my crop sensor camera). There are some huge challenges, especially when the subject is as small as this damselfly including finding it in the viewfinder. I realize that I had gotten a little sloppy with my camera settings and stabilization techniques and have to pay a lot more attention to these factors when shooting this kind of subject with this lens.
on May 30, 2015 at 5:16 pm | Reply vedaeddy

Mike this are gorgeous.
- on May 30, 2015 at 5:48 pm | Reply Mike Powell
  
  Thanks so much. There is a real beauty in some of the tiniest of creatures.
on May 30, 2015 at 6:42 pm | Reply svtakeiteasy

Great explanations Mike and beautiful images as always.
- on May 30, 2015 at 7:00 pm | Reply Mike Powell
  
  Thanks, Chris. My favorite postings are when I manage to capture something I find to be cool and interesting and this teneral damselfly was one of those kind of things.
on May 31, 2015 at 9:14 am | Reply New Hampshire Garden Solutions

Those are really gorgeous shots!
- on May 31, 2015 at 6:45 pm | Reply Mike Powell
  
  Thanks, Allen.
on May 31, 2015 at 11:14 am | Reply Suzy Blue

Lovely! They’re very similar to our “Beautiful Demoiselles” and indeed are related as ours are Calopteryx virgo. I have photos of some from a couple of years ago http://blog.suzyblue.org.uk/2013/08/05/beautiful-demoiselle/
- on May 31, 2015 at 12:45 pm | Reply Mike Powell
  
  I checked out your photos (which are gorgeous) and indeed the females are really similar. Your male is a bit prettier than ours.