Halloween Pennant dragonfly in July

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Halloween Pennant dragonfly in July

July 15, 2021 by Mike Powell

I was happy to spot this Halloween Pennant dragonfly (Celithemis eponina) on Monday at Occoquan Bay National Wildlife Refuge as it perched high in the air on a tall stalk of Eastern Gamagrass. This is my first Halloween Pennant of the season and I have always loved seeing the beautifully patterned wings of this species. As you can see from this photo, Halloween Pennants like to perch on the uppermost tips of vegetation, which causes them to flap in even the slightest breeze, like a pennant.

I had made a trip to this wildlife refuge to check on the status of the bald eagles that I featured in yesterday’s posting and was walking around with my 150-600mm telephoto lens on my camera when I saw this dragonfly. Normally I am reluctant to to try to photograph dragonflies with this lens, because the shots are sometimes a little soft when the zoom lens is fully extended. However, the lighting was good and I am happy with the amount of detail that I was able to capture—click on the photo if you want to check out all of the cool details of this colorful dragonfly.

Posted in Dragonflies, dragonfly, Insects, Nature, Photography, Summer, wildlife | Tagged Canon 50D, Celithemis eponina, Eastern gamagrass, halloween pennant, Halloween Pennant dragonfly, Occoquan Bay National Wildlife Refuge, Tamron 150-600mm, Woodbridge VA | 14 Comments

14 Responses

on July 15, 2021 at 7:38 am | Reply K.L. Hale

The picture is beautiful, Mike! I can see the colors perfectly. He posed perfectly too!
on July 15, 2021 at 7:42 am | Reply Ms. Liz

The glowing colours against the clear blue-sky background are fantastic!
on July 15, 2021 at 8:15 am | Reply Ted Jennings - TPJ Photography

The wings are beautiful 😁
on July 15, 2021 at 8:32 am | Reply peterawriter

Just wow!
on July 15, 2021 at 8:36 am | Reply Patricia M Osborne

Wow. This is beautiful. And what a shot! Thank you so much for sharing, Mike. A little faery.
on July 15, 2021 at 10:47 am | Reply Reed Andariese

Very Nice Mike! Nice against the Blue sky!
on July 15, 2021 at 11:09 am | Reply kenneturner

Cool!
on July 15, 2021 at 11:31 am | Reply Mitzy Bricker

Terrific capture, Mike.

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on July 15, 2021 at 12:51 pm | Reply picpholio

Our dragonflies are beautiful but they are nothing compared with the ones where you live !
on July 15, 2021 at 12:52 pm | Reply Laura (PA Pict)

Gorgeous photo! I love the composition with all of the linear angles and I also really like the way the warm hues of the stalk communicates with the golden orange of the dragonfly and the way those warm tones pop against that cool blue sky.
on July 15, 2021 at 5:24 pm | Reply sv-anui.com

This one looks like it is keeping a side eye on you!
on July 15, 2021 at 5:30 pm | Reply Ellen Jennings

A real beauty, Mike, nicely composed with the stalk and delicate blue background.
on July 15, 2021 at 10:06 pm | Reply lulu

What a wonderful capture!
on July 23, 2021 at 6:37 pm | Reply Anand

Great shot! It looks like it could pop out of my screen.