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Archive for August, 2018

Colorful Green Darner

Posted in Dragonflies, dragonfly, Insects, Nature, Photography, Summer, wildlife, tagged , , , , , , , , on August 5, 2018| 6 Comments »

Normally when I see a Common Green Darner dragonfly (Anax junius) it is patrolling in the air and it is mostly a greenish blur. This past Friday, however, I was fortunate enough to spot one on the ground, nestled low in the vegetation at Occoquan Bay National Wildlife Refuge. At this closer distance I was able to marvel at all of the wonderful colors of this beautiful dragonfly.

Be sure to click on the images to see the details of this dragonfly at higher resolution.  Did you notice the blue color near the tip of its “nose?”

Common Green Darner

Common Green Darner

© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.

 

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Cruising altitude

Posted in Art, Dragonflies, dragonfly, Insects, Nature, Photography, Summer, tagged , , , , , , , on August 4, 2018| 6 Comments »

This Prince Baskettail dragonfly (Epitheca princeps) almost looks like it was flying at an airplane’s cruising altitude and was looking down at a landscape with rivers, mountains, and lakes. I spotted this dragonfly last weekend at Occoquan Bay National Wildlife Refuge and spent quite a while trying to get a shot of it in flight.

The dragonfly, however, never ventured close enough to shore for me to get a detailed shot of it. I was a little disappointed until I opened up the image on my computer and discovered that I had managed to capture a wonderful, fanciful background. Sometimes I try to document the reality that I see and other times it seems like it is just my imagination running away with me.

Prince Baskettail

© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.

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Ailanthus Webworm Moth

Posted in Insects, Macro Photography, Nature, Photography, Summer, wildlife, tagged , , , , , on August 4, 2018| 7 Comments »

When you closely at flowers, you discover all kinds of cool insects, like this Ailanthus Webworm Moth (Atteva aurea) that I spotted yesterday at Occoquan Bay National Wildlife Refuge. My eyes were drawn to the colorful pattern on the body of this insect, which I initially assumed was some kind of beetle. Because of the distinctiveness of the pattern, it was not hard to identify it after a Google search, but I was a bit surprised to learn that it is a moth, not a beetle.

I thought that this was my first time spotting this moth, but a search of my blog shows that I saw one in 2016 and did a posting entitled Not a Beetle. Although my memory may not be perfect, apparently my reaction was almost identical both times.

Ailanthus Webworm moth

© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.

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Metallic green sweat bee

Posted in Bees, Insects, Macro Photography, Nature, Photography, Summer, tagged , , , , , , , on August 3, 2018| 13 Comments »

Most folks are familiar with the comic book hero the Green Hornet, but have you ever seen a green bee? I don’t see them very often, so I was pretty excited to spot this one in some flowers last weekend at Occoquan Bay National Wildlife Refuge. I think this kind of bee is generally known as a metallic green sweat bee and is of the genus Agapostemon.

green bee

© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.

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Dragonfly becomes prey

Posted in Arachnids, Dragonflies, dragonfly, Insects, Nature, Photography, spiders, Summer, tagged , , , , , , , , , on August 2, 2018| 6 Comments »

Sometimes the dragonfly is the predator and sometimes it is the prey—it appears to be primarily a matter of circumstances and timing. This male Common Whitetail dragonfly (Plathemis lydia) met his demise this past Friday at Occoquan Bay National Wildlife Refuge.

I am not sure how exactly the spider managed to snag the dragonfly, but I assume the dragonfly flew into the spider’s web, which was high in the air, spanning a gap between some tall trees. Interesting enough, I was only able to see a few strands of the web, so I wonder if this action took place at the extreme edge of the web.

common whitetail dragonfly

© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.

 

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Eastern Ringtail

Posted in Dragonflies, dragonfly, Insects, Nature, Photography, Summer, wildlife, tagged , , , , , , on August 1, 2018| 3 Comments »

I spotted this beautiful female Eastern Ringtail dragonfly (Erpetogomphus designatus) last week along the Potomac River while exploring Great Falls Park. Unlike some of the dragonflies that I have photographed recently that perched at the very tips of tall stems, this species likes to perch in vegetation relatively low to the ground. As a result, the background in this image is a little more cluttered than I prefer.

If you double click on the image, you will see the image in greater detail, including its marvelous multi-colored eyes and the wonderful colors and patterns on its body.

Eastern Ringtail

© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.

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