I was focused so intently on getting a shot of this male Swift Setwing dragonfly (Dythemis velox) on Monday at Jackson Miles Abbott Wetland Refuge that I did notice that he was not alone on the small branch overhanging the waters of the small pond.
When I first pulled up the image on my computer, I immediately noticed the strands of spider silk that looked like the guy line of a tent pole. It was only when I started to examine the branch closely, however, that I spotted the elongated shape of a Long-jawed Orb Weaver spider (family Tetragnathidae) perched below the dragonfly on the same branch.
The dragonfly was skittish and flew away when I got too close. I suspect that he was unaware of the fact that I was not the most immediate threat that he faced—danger was lurking from below on that branch that my experience had shown was a favorite perch for Swift Setwings.
© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.
Watch out! 😂 Good photo, Mike!
Blue Rock Horses Frederick County, Virginia bluerockhorses.com
Thanks, Mitzy.
Good spotting, Mike! Lucky you scared the dragonfly away.
I like to think that i helped prompt the dragonfly to fly out of a potentially dangerous situation, but it honestly is hard to know how the situation would have unfolded otherwise.
I often see long, ‘stretched out’ spiders lurking around boats. They’re usually hidden, but near their little webs. I’ve never tried to identify one, but they may be members of this family.
I often see these kinds of spiders stretched out over the water, so it would not surprise me if the ones you described as lurking around the boats are related. There are a lots of different species of long-jawed spiders, so I could only identify this one down to the family level and not to the species level.
Yikes! You may have saved his life!
I like to think so, though it is hard to know how the situation would have unfolded. 🙂
I love surprises like that 😃😃.
It looks like he’s pulling a lever.
Wonderful image, Mike. The composition of the Swift Setwing and stick are very nice, and the spider and web strands really make it special! Great job capitalizing on a photo-bomber.
Thanks, Ellen. I was concentrating on getting the composition that you described and did not pay attention to anything else. Once again I was surprised to discover something in an image–in this case the spider–that I did not notice while taking the shot.
That was a close call!
It certainly looks like it could have been, Eliza. I have never seen one of there spiders capture a dragonfly, but have seen dragonflies caught in spider webs in the past. I also had a memorable encounter years ago when I came upon a jumping spider that had captured a much larger dragonfly (https://michaelqpowell.com/2014/05/27/spider-captures-dragonfly-the-story/).