Autumn portraits of a Black Saddlebags

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Autumn portraits of a Black Saddlebags

September 29, 2017 by Mike Powell

This Black Saddlebags dragonfly (Tramea lacerata) chose a beautiful perch and posed briefly for a couple of autumn portraits on Friday at Occoquan Bay National Wildlife Refuge. Black Saddlebags usually spend a lot of time soaring high in the air, so it is a special joy for me when one lands and I am able to get some decent shots. I have never before managed to get a good look at their eyes and absolutely love the two-toned color combination.

Posted in Autumn, Dragonflies, dragonfly, Insects, Nature, Photography, wildlife | Tagged Black Saddlebags, Black Saddlebags dragonfly, Canon SX50, Occoquan Bay National Wildlife Refuge, Tramea lacerata, Woodbridge VA | 10 Comments

10 Responses

on September 30, 2017 at 12:04 am | Reply exploringcolour

Congratulations Mike! That top photo is stunning!
- on September 30, 2017 at 12:11 am | Reply Mike Powell
  
  I love getting that kind of a head-on shot. Depth of field is a problem with that kind of a shot, but I usually try to get the eyes in focus and if the rest of the body is out of focus, I am ok with that.
on September 30, 2017 at 8:29 am | Reply shoreacres

I was looking through my bookmarks for something else, and found this link to a citizen science project regarding dragonflies. You may know about it, or not be interested, but I thought I’d pass it on.
- on September 30, 2017 at 2:00 pm | Reply Mike Powell
  
  Thanks for the info. I will check it out and see if it is still active. The Black Saddlebags is one of the five species they are studying.
on September 30, 2017 at 8:51 am | Reply Laura (PA Pict)

Wonderful. The dragonfly looks great among the crisp brown leaves.
- on September 30, 2017 at 2:01 pm | Reply Mike Powell
  
  Thanks, Laura. This particular species is one of the ones that migrates, so it was probably stopping in our area on the way to some more distant location.
on September 30, 2017 at 8:40 pm | Reply Dan Antion

I like te angle on that bottom shot, Mike.
on October 1, 2017 at 5:59 pm | Reply New Hampshire Garden Solutions

Those are excellent photos of this beautiful dragonfly!
- on October 1, 2017 at 6:15 pm | Reply Mike Powell
  
  Thanks, Allen. It was pretty special to be able to get photos like this of what is generally a pretty elusive dragonfly species.
  - on October 1, 2017 at 6:21 pm New Hampshire Garden Solutions
    
    The photos are darn near perfect but I’d love to see one in person. I’ll have to check and see if we have them.