A favorite perch

Feeds:: Posts; Comments

A favorite perch

June 9, 2020 by Mike Powell

Every year I enjoy taking photos of dragonflies perching on a piece of rusted rebar that sticks a few inches out of the water of a small pond at Jackson Miles Abbott Wetland Refuge. I have seen dragonflies of several species use this particular perch, but photographically speaking my favorite is probably a male Eastern Amberwing dragonfly (Perithemis tenera) like the one in this photo from last Friday—the orange-rust colors of the dragonfly and its perch are complementary and soften what might otherwise be a jarring juxtaposition of the natural and man-made worlds.

You can’t see it really well, but there is a spider, probably a long-jawed spider, visible onthe lower portion of the rebar. I don’t know for sure if that spider could capture the dragonfly, but it is a potentially dangerous situation for the dragonfly and in the past I have photographed several dragonflies that had fallen prey to spiders.

Posted in Art, Dragonflies, dragonfly, Nature, Photography, Summer, wildlife | Tagged Canon 50D, Eastern Amberwing, Eastern Amberwing dragonfly, Fort Belvoir VA, Jackson Miles Abbott Wetland Refuge, Perithemis tenera, Tamron 180mm | 10 Comments

10 Responses

on June 9, 2020 at 8:27 am | Reply Laura (PA Pict)

I love the combination of the rust and amber colours and the diagonal and vertical lines in the composition.
- on June 9, 2020 at 10:13 am | Reply Mike Powell
  
  Thanks, Laura. I have gotten a feel for the way that you view my images as an artist and I was was quite confident that you would like this one. 🙂
  - on June 9, 2020 at 11:25 am Laura (PA Pict)
    
    Ha ha! I am so predictable.
  - on June 9, 2020 at 12:00 pm Mike Powell
    
    I wouldn’t quite go that far, but I know that you are often drawn to clean lines and harmonious color palettes. 🙂
on June 9, 2020 at 9:45 am | Reply Reed Andariese

Nice Mike! The color of the rebar and the Amberwing are very complementary and with the very smooth background they really stand out!
- on June 9, 2020 at 10:14 am | Reply Mike Powell
  
  Thanks, Reed. The rebar sticking out of the water is only a couple of feet from the shore of the pond and there is an adjacent fishing platform that let me look down on it with nothing but the water in the background.
on June 9, 2020 at 11:09 am | Reply dianaed14

Lovely – so much detail
on June 9, 2020 at 9:24 pm | Reply Eliza Waters

I didn’t realize how tiny these dragonflies are. I am most familiar with the big ones.
- on June 9, 2020 at 11:03 pm | Reply Mike Powell
  
  I think that most of the dragonflies with which people are familiar are closer to 2 inches in length, with some as big as 3 inches. Eastern Amberwings are much smaller than average.
on June 10, 2020 at 3:41 am | Reply krikitarts

It looks like the spider (or another hopeful competitor) has spun several web strands around this popular perch. Luckily for your pretty amberwing, they seem to be somewhat in need of replacement.