Although many damselflies are tiny in size and difficult to spot from a distance, spreadwing damselflies are a notable exception. Spreadwing damselflies tend to be quite a bit larger than other damselflies and they rest with their wings partly open in the “spreadwing” posture that gives the family its common name. (Most other damselflies rest with their wings held closed, usually above their abdomen, which makes them harder to see and to photograph.)
When I flushed this damselfly yesterday at Jackson Miles Abbott Wetland Refuge, I was immediately struck by the length of its body—it seemed to be really long and skinny. The spreadwing family is not all that big, but I still had trouble identifying the species of the damselfly. As is usually the case in this kind ofsituation, I turned to my local expert, fellow dragonfly enthusiast and blogger Walter Sanford, who identified it as a female Slender Spreadwing damselfly (Lestes rectangularis). I sometimes complain about the inappropriateness of the names of species, but in this case “slender spreadwing” is a perfect match for the subject that I observed.
In case you are curious about the photo, I shot it with my Tamron 150-600mm telephoto zoom lens on my Canon 50D DSLR. Over the winter I have become accustomed to using a monopod for stability and for this shot, I lowered the monopod and shot while kneeling. One of the limitations of the lens is that the minimum focusing distance is almost 9 feet (274 cm). At that distance, the camera’s autofocus system had trouble locking on the slender body of the damselfly—it kept focusing on the vegetation—so I resorted to manual focusing.
Most people are more familiar with dragonflies than with damselflies, but I encourage you to slow down and search for beautiful damselflies, the smaller members (in most cases) of the order of Odonata to which dragonflies also belong.
© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.
Mike Powell 
Benjamin said : “That is a long, long body and really big eyes and pretty wings too!” He laughed when I read to him that you were kneeling to take this photo. We agree that Slender Spreadwing is a very good name. Thank-you, Mr. Mike!!
If Benjamin thought it was funny that I was kneeling to take a photo, check out one of the photos in this posting from a couple of years to see how low I will sometimes get with my camera. https://michaelqpowell.wordpress.com/2016/04/15/close-to-a-garter-snake/
Benjamin loves those enlarged photos of the garter snake and yourself. He is amazed that you got down on the ground near the snake. “Wow! You are brave Mr. Mike, be careful of snakes!” He says that because some sort of snake dropped out of a tree and bit his Daddy’s arm last summer. I told him that you are sure to be careful and he said : “Mr. Mike is so smart, that’s good!” Thank-you for sharing this post with us!!
A beautiful damsel Mike, fairly similar to the Emeralds we have in the UK
That is a lovely shot, Mike! Such a beautiful damselfly.
Beautiful shot, Mike. I love the symmetry of it and the way you’ve captured the stained glass effect of the wings.
Thanks, Laura. I violated one of the “rules” of photography by centering my subject, but it seemed to work and it emphasized the symmetry that you noted. I was thrilled to be able to captures of the delicate veining in the wings of this beautiful damselfly.
Rules can be broken. They are guidelines anyway. Your own instincts for composition are sound.
Thanks, Laura. I do tend to rely on my instincts a lot. When I first started getting more serious about photography, my mentor was struck by the fact that composition came pretty easily to me, which allow her to focus on helping me to improve other skills.
Looks like a swizzle stick 😀
I would probably serve well as one, though the damselfly would probably protest.