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.
© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.
I love the combination of the rust and amber colours and the diagonal and vertical lines in the composition.
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. 🙂
Ha ha! I am so predictable.
I wouldn’t quite go that far, but I know that you are often drawn to clean lines and harmonious color palettes. 🙂
Nice Mike! The color of the rebar and the Amberwing are very complementary and with the very smooth background they really stand out!
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.
Lovely – so much detail
I didn’t realize how tiny these dragonflies are. I am most familiar with the big ones.
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.
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.