Black Saddlebags dragonflies (Tramea lacerata) like to fly high overhead, back and forth over trails and fields in pursuit of tiny insects that are often invisible to my eyes. They are pretty easy to identify because of the distinctive large dark patches on their wings that you can pick out even when they are flying. They are a challenge to photograph, though, because they rarely seem to perch.
When I spotted this patrolling Black Saddlebags on Monday at Occoquan Bay National Wildlife Refuge, I decided to try to capture some in-flight action shots of the dragonfly. When I am trying to photograph a dragonfly flying over a pond, I can sometimes pre-focus on an area, because the dragonfly stays at the same height above the water and flies in a somewhat predictable pattern. That technique does not work, however, with a dragonfly like the Black Saddlebags that changes altitude and direction quickly and without warning.
The first two photos give you a pretty good look at the wing pattern of the Black Saddlebags. If you look really closely at the first photo, you will note that the dragonfly has tucked in its legs under the thorax (the “chest” area), probably for aerodynamic reasons.
In the final photo, I noted that the dragonfly’s legs were extended. What was going on? As I was processing the shot, I noted some small white spots in front of and just above the dragonfly. At first I thought these might be dust spots on my sensor, but they were in different places on different shots, so I rejected that hypothesis. I think that those white spots, which you can see in the final image if you click on it and look very carefully, are small insects and the dragonfly was extending its legs to snag those insects.
The Black Saddlebags is one of several dragonfly species that migrates in the fall and this one may have been fattening up in preparation for the upcoming journey. Whatever the case, it was a fun challenge to try to photograph this dragonfly flying overhead.
© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.
Mike Powell 
Interesting
Thanks.
Always welcome
Amazing photos. Wow!!
Thanks, Suzette.
Curious Mike how many discard shots would you say to capture this dragonfly in flight ? Love that first image with one set of wings vertical and the trailing wings horizontal. Thanks
That’s an interesting question, John. I went back and checked my shots and I think I took about a dozen shots of the dragonfly. The dragonfly was in the frame in seven of the shots–the others were all blue sky. In several of the shots, the dragonfly was pretty close to the edge, so I would have had to add a bit of sky in Photoshop if I had wanted to use those images. I was shooting with my 180mm macro lens and the dragonfly was a good distance overhead, so the images you see have been pretty heavily cropped.
Somehow I could see myself taking a gazzilion shots or so to capture those images. Impressive Sir.
Thanks, John. I actually spent a lot of my time tracking my subject before I press the shutter. If I had a newer DSLR with more frames per second, I’d probably take a lot more shots. In other cases of in-flight shots of dragonflies, I have taken over a hundred shots in a session. In this case, it is marginally easier, because the Black Saddlebags glide a little when flying.
Nice Mike! Fun to see flying dragonfly images!
Thanks, Reed.
A fun exercise, Mike, and you got good results! Interesting about the bugs, it seems most of what they catch are almost too small to see, for us.
Yes, although I do see Eastern Pondhawks from time to time that have caught damselflies that are definitely visible.
Oh yes, I’ve seen that, too, and photographed some, but have been reluctant to share those images as perhaps too gruesome.
Cool to see it in motion!
Dificult to catch them in flight, I also tried it this week… 🙂 Your pictures are very well succeded.
It’s hard enough to photograph birds in flight and get sharp results, but dragonflies take this up a notch!
It is similar to trying to photograph birds in flight, but the smaller size of the subjects and the closer range make it uniquely challenging. I remember how amazed I was the first time I saw photos of a dragonfly in-flight. I thought that it was impossible to get a photo like that. After lots of practice, I now know that shots like that are difficult to get, but not impossible. Good technique is essential, but even more importantly, you have to be really patient and persistent and a bit lucky to get a shot of dragonfly in the air.
[…] first of this little series was called Flying Overhead and I was excited to get capture some in-flight images of Black Saddlebags—the dragonflies were […]