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Archive for the ‘Insects’ Category

Indoor butterflies

Posted in Butterflies, Flowers, Insects, Macro Photography, Nature, Photography, Summer, tagged , , , , , , , on June 26, 2023| 5 Comments »

Most of the times I am outdoors when I am photographing butterflies, but occasionally I have the opportunity to visit indoor butterfly gardens. One of the cool thing about these facilities is that they often contain tropical species that are not present in my local area.

Early in June I visited Lewis Ginter Botanical Garden in Richmond, Virginia and spent some time in the butterfly garden in an enclosed area of the large glass conservatory. Shooting in this environment challenges my composition skills and photography techniques as I try to hold my camera steady, focus on these moving subjects, and avoid including people and man-made objects in the backgrounds of the images.

Here are a few of my favorites from my time with these butterflies, several of which perched on me while I was exploring their environment. There is a double-door system that is sort of like an air lock to try to prevent the butterflies from escaping when people enter and exit. The staff folks also carefully check you when you are leaving to ensure that no butterflies are hitching a ride on you.

butterfly

butterfly

butterfly

butterfly

© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.

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More mating damselflies

Posted in damselfly, Insects, Macro Photography, Nature, Photography, Summer, wildlife, tagged , , , , , , , on June 23, 2023| 8 Comments »

Dragonflies and damselflies have rather limited lifespans after they emerge from the water and are transformed from aquatic nymphs into aerial acrobats. One of their biological imperatives is to perpetuate their species, so it is not unusual to see mating activity during this time of the year that is primetime for dragonflies and damselflies.

On a trip earlier this month to Occoquan Regional Park, I spotted this pair of Ebony Jewelwing damselflies (Calopteryx maculata) in their distinctive sidewards-heart mating position. I am really happy with this image because I was able to use my shooting angle and camera settings to keep the bodies of both damselflies in focus and achieve a blurry background that allows a viewer to focus on the damselflies without any visual distractions.

In case you are curious, the damselfly to the left is the female and the one with the shiny green body is the male. You can tell the genders from the mating position and from the little white patch on the wings that is present on female Ebony Jewelwings and not on the completely dark wings of the males

 

Ebony Jewelwing

© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.

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Dragonflies Are Everywhere

Posted in Dragonflies, dragonfly, Insects, Nature, Photography, Travel, tagged , , , , , , , on June 22, 2023| 13 Comments »

As I was seated in my car at a stoplight, I glanced across the intersection at the traffic in the oncoming lanes and was delighted to spot a giant dragonfly on the side of a U-Haul truck. I grabbed my camera off of the passenger seat where it was seated and managed to take this photo before the lights changed.

In case you are viewing this and cannot read the words on the graphic, it say “#105 Venture Across Canada, British Columbia, A Secret Urban Wilderness/Un Coin Sauvage Et Secret En Ville, Burn Bog.” According to its website, Burns Bog is “a raised bog ecosystem covering approximately 3,000 hectares of the Fraser River delta between the south arm of the Fraser River and Boundary Bay” in the greater Vancouver area of British Columbia. The site claims that the bog is the largest undeveloped urban landmass in North America at 8,000 acres.

I think that my eyes are so finely tuned to recognizing the shape of a dragonfly that I manage to spot them in the most unlikely places, like on the side of a U-Haul truck.

U-Haul dragonfly

© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.

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Rainbow dragonfly

Posted in Dragonflies, dragonfly, Insects, Nature, Pride Month, Summer, wildlife, tagged , , , , , , , , , on June 20, 2023| 7 Comments »

This handsome Common Green Darner dragonfly (Anax junius) does not have all of the colors of the rainbow, but it does have many of them and I love its mix of vibrant colors. The dragonfly was perched vertically really low in the vegetation when I spotted it during a recent to Occoquan Regional Park. I ended up sprawled almost flat on the ground to get this shot—my position would have made for an amusing photo, but fortunately no one else was around to capture that moment.

Mature male Common Green Darners have bright blue abdomens. The reddish pink color of this dragonfly’s abdomen suggest to me that it is an immature male. Early and late in the season, the abdomens of male Common Green Darners may appear purple. Common Green Darners have dark-colored platelets in their blood that rise to the surface when it is cold, darkening their abdomen color and attracting more sun. On bright, hot days, those dark platelets sink, and the abdomen turns bright blue again, now reflecting light.

Common Green Darner

© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.

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Damselfly hook-up

Posted in damselfly, Insects, Macro Photography, Nature, Photography, Summer, wildlife, tagged , , , , , , , on June 19, 2023| 10 Comments »

Last week I managed to capture a series of images of a hook-up between two Ebony Jewelwing damselflies (Calopteryx maculata). Initially I was focused on a female that was perched on a leaf, but then noticed a male who was circling around her. According to Wikipedia, “Calopteryx males will hover in front of a female with alternating fast and slow wingbeats; if she is receptive she will remain perched, otherwise she will fly off.” This female remained in place, so the male moved in, as you can see in the first three photos.

During mating, the male uses claspers at the tip of his abdomen to grasp the female behind her head tightly enough to resist the attempts by other males to dislodge him, a position sometimes called “tandem.” The male then flexes his abdomen to encourage the female to loop her abdomen round to interlock with him, forming the “wheel’ position,” the sidewards-heart position shown in the final photo.

I suppose that I could leave the description here, but the process that was taking place was so weird and fascinating that I thought I should explain what is going on. In order to keep from getting too graphic, I will borrow some language from Wikipedia.

“Mating in damselflies, as in dragonflies, is a complex, precisely choreographed process involving both indirect insemination and delayed fertilization….When he (the male) is ready to mate, he transfers a packet of sperm from his primary genital opening on segment 9, near the end of his abdomen, to his secondary genitalia on segments 2–3, near the base of his abdomen. The male then grasps the female by the head with the claspers at the end of his abdomen; the structure of the claspers varies between species, and may help to prevent interspecific mating… The female then curls her abdomen downwards and forwards under her body to pick up the sperm from the male’s secondary genitalia, while the male uses his “tail” claspers to grip the female behind the head: this distinctive posture is called the “heart” or “wheel.”

Wow! I think I will leave it at that. Suffice it to say that the process is complicated and the participants have to be incredibly flexible.

Ebony Jewelwing

Ebony Jewelwing

Ebony Jewelwing

Ebony Jewelwing

Ebony Jewelwing

Ebony Jewelwing

© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.

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Gray Petaltail up close

Posted in Dragonflies, dragonfly, Insects, Nature, Photography, Summer, wildlife, tagged , , , , , , , on June 18, 2023| 3 Comments »

This Gray Petaltail dragonfly (Tachopteryx thoreyi) was quite cooperative and let me take a close-up portrait last week as I was exploring a small pond in Fairfax County, Virginia. Gray Petaltails are known to be quite friendly and inquisitive and I have had one perch on me on multiple occasions. During one such encounter in 2019, fellow dragonfly enthusiast Walter Sanford snapped a couple of photos of one perched on me when I was wearing a gray sweatshirt that must have made me look like a tree to the dragonfly. If you want to see the photos, check out Walter’s blog post entitled “You look like a tree to me.”

Most of the time I am not able to approach a dragonfly from this angle to get a close-up shot. Dragonflies have incredible vision and I am certain that this one could see me coming. However, he apparently did not see me as a threat and stayed in place while I took several shots. As you can see, the depth of field was incredibly shallow for this shot—only a small portion of the dragonfly’s body was in focus—but I was able to keep the striking gray eyes in focus and capture a lot of details that highlight their beauty.

Gray Petaltail

© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.

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Slaty Skimmers in June

Posted in Dragonflies, dragonfly, Insects, Nature, Photography, Summer, wildlife, tagged , , , , , , , on June 17, 2023| 1 Comment »

There were lots of Slaty Skimmers (Libellula incesta) flying about on Tuesday at the small pond at Jackson Miles Abbott Wetland Refuge, but none of them were cooperative in perching within range. They seemed to content to buzz around over the lily pads and land occasionally in vegetation overhanging the water—I was willing to lean a little to get closer to the dragonflies, but did not want to risk falling into the water.

Slaty Skimmers are one of our most common summer dragonfly species and they find themselves at home in almost any habitat. The mature males are really easy to identify because of their dark bodies and eyes. Immature males and females are a lot harder to distinguish from a number of other species in the skimmer family, like the Great Blue Skimmer and the Bar-winged Skimmer.

Slaty Skimmer

Slaty Skimmer

© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.

 

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Dragonfly ovipositing

Posted in Dragonflies, dragonfly, Insects, Nature, Photography, Summer, wildlife, tagged , , , , , , , , on June 16, 2023| 6 Comments »

I spotted a female Common Green Darner dragonfly (Anax junius) as she was ovipositing while her male partner held onto her last Saturday at the edge of the small pond at Jackson Miles Abbott Wetland Refuge. Common Green Darners are large dragonflies—about 3 inches (76 mm) in length—so it was relatively easy to track the pair as they moved about placing eggs in various patches of vegetation in the water.

After mating takes place, the males of some species of dragonflies disappear.  In other species, the male stays nearby, guarding the female and fending off other males that might remove the initial suitor’s sperm and replace it with their own.  Some species, like this Common Green Darner, remain attached to the female in a position known as “tandem.” while egg-laying takes place.  The female Common Green Darner submerges her abdomen and lays her eggs in or on the aquatic vegetation, as you can see in these images. If you look really closely at the first image, you can see what I believe is the dragonfly’s curved ovipositor that she uses to make a little slit into the vegetation in which to place the eggs.

According to an article on Animal Diversity Web, there are two different lifecycles for Common Green Darners, one for the dragonflies that have migrated northward and one for the resident population. “Migratory adults mate and oviposit in June. Unlike resident populations, nymphal development for migrant offspring takes only 3 to 5 months, and they do not overwinter. They emerge as tenerals typically around late-August and September. They often begin their migration as tenerals, feeding along the way and developing into adults.” The timing of the activity that I observed suggests that these could be migrant Common Green Darners.

“For residents in the north, the adults mate and oviposit in late July to August. The resulting offspring hatch and develop to mid-instars and then overwinter when temperatures drop. Total nymphal development time can take 11 to 12 months for residents, as the nymphs finish development when temperatures warm in the spring and then emerge as adults in the following June and July.”

I highly recommend the article that I referenced, which has lots more fascinating information about this colorful dragonfly species.

Common Green Darner

Common Green Darner

Common Green Darner

Common Green Darner

© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved

 

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Blue-fronted Dancer damselflies

Posted in damselfly, Insects, Macro Photography, Nature, Summer, wildlife, tagged , , , , , , on June 15, 2023| 2 Comments »

Many damselflies have distinctive shoulder stripes, but the thoraxes of Blue-fronted Dancers (Argia apicalis) are almost completely blue and have only hairline black stripes. Last Saturday I was delighted to spot some Blue-fronted Dancers at the small pond at Jackson Miles Abbott Wetland Refuge, my first sighting of this species this season. Although the blue thorax made them easy to identify, what really struck me were their brilliant blue eyes, a feature that I had never noticed before. Wow!

I was able to photograph these damselflies on various locations as I repeatedly circled the pond. Periodically I would glance out at the water, where several families of Canada Geese were swimming around with their almost grown goslings. In the final photo, you can see one of the feathers from the geese, a quirky and almost whimsical addition to my photo of the Blue-fronted Dancer—I really like that image.

Blue-fronted Dancer

Blue-fronted Dancer

Blue-fronted Dancer

© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved

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Eastern Pondhawks (male)

Posted in Dragonflies, dragonfly, Insects, Nature, Photography, Summer, wildlife, tagged , , , , , , , on June 14, 2023| Leave a Comment »

I love the look of male Eastern Pondhawk dragonflies (Erythemis simplicicollis) when they are transitioning to adults. When they are juvenile, male Easter Pondhawks have emerald green thoraxes and black striped abdomen, like their female counterparts. Gradually the body coloration shifts to blue as they mature. I really like their appearance when, as was the case with these pondhawks that I photographed last week at Occoquan Regional Park, their bodies have beautiful shades of both green and blue.

In the second and third photos, you get a glimpse of the pondhawk’s beautiful eyes that are also a combination of blue and green. Although you can’t see it very well in these photos, Eastern Pondhawks of both genders have bright green faces, which helps to distinguish the male Eastern Pondhawks from a number of other dragonfly species that have blue bodies.

Eastern Pondhawk

Eastern Pondhawk

Eastern Pondhawk

© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved

 

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Sable Clubtail dragonfly

Posted in Dragonflies, dragonfly, Insects, Macro Photography, Nature, Photography, Summer, wildlife, tagged , , , , , , on June 13, 2023| 4 Comments »

I was thrilled to spot at least one male Sable Clubtail dragonfly (Stenogomphurus rogersi) last Saturday while I was exploring a small stream in Fairfax County, Virginia. I visited that section of the stream several times during the day and had multiple sightings of a Sable Clubtail, but I am not sure if there was more than one of this species or if I was seeing the same individual each time.

As you can see from these two photos, Sable Clubtails like to perch low in vegetation just above the level of the water of the stream. As a result I had to crouch really low to be able to capture these images. The lighting was brighter for the first photo and you can see many of the details of the markings on the dragonfly, but I really like the cool shadow in the second image, which has a more “artsy” feel.

Sable Clubtails are rarein our area. Fellow dragonfly enthusiast Walter Sanford did extensive research and rediscovered this species in 2018 and I have been fortunate to see a Sable Clubtail at this stream in most years since then. If you are interested in the backstory of Walter’s efforts, check out his June 2018 blog posting entitled Off-season homework pays dividends.

Sable Clubtail

Sable Clubtail

© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved

 

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Widow Skimmer in June

Posted in Dragonflies, dragonfly, Insects, Macro Photography, Nature, Photography, Summer, wildlife, tagged , , , , , , , on June 12, 2023| 8 Comments »

Many summer dragonfly species are now emerging on the scene, like this immature male Widow Skimmer dragonfly (Libellula luctuosa) that I spotted last Tuesday at Occoquan Regional Park in Lorton, Virginia.

Anecdotally, someone thought that these dragonflies appeared to be draped in mourning crepe and that is the source of the “widow” in the name of the species. The Loudon Wildlife Conservancy website states that “This dragonfly got the “widow” name because, unlike most other dragonfly species where the male stays near the female after she lays the eggs, the male in this pair leaves her after the eggs have been laid.” Either explanation is plausible, though I have seen more references to the first explanation than the second one.

I was quite fortunate that the dragonfly chose a high perch that allowed me to separate it from the rest of the background. Quite a few of the dragonflies that I have photographed recently have perched on the ground or in dense vegetation and the backgrounds in those photos have been quite cluttered.

Widow Skimmer

Widow Skimmer

© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved

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Friendly dragonfly

Posted in Dragonflies, dragonfly, Insects, Nature, Photography, Portraits, Summer, wildlife, tagged , , , , , , , on June 10, 2023| 3 Comments »

Usually I see Gray Petaltail dragonflies (Tachopteryx thoreyi) perched vertically on tree trunks, but this one perched horizontally on a fallen branch and stared at me after landing momentarily on my shoulder on Tuesday at Occoquan Regional Park in Lorton, Virginia.

I really like to get eye-to-eye contact with dragonflies—somehow it makes the encounter more personal and intimate. One of the consequences of shooting from this angle, though, is that much of the body of the dragonfly will be out of focus. I am ok with that and in fact it tends to pull the viewer’s eyes towards those bits that are in focus, particularly the dragonfly’s wonderful compound eyes.  Gray Petaltail

© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.

 

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Common Green Darner close-ups

Posted in Dragonflies, dragonfly, Insects, Macro Photography, Nature, Photography, Summer, wildlife, tagged , , , , , , on June 9, 2023| 11 Comments »

I am used to seeing Common Green Darner (Anax junius) dragonflies flying overhead, but on Tuesday I had the relatively rare chance to see one up close at Occoquan Regional Park. The Common Green Darner is a large, colorful dragonfly that is known for its long distance migratory flights. According to Wikipedia, “By attaching micro-radio transmitters to Common Green Darners, researchers have found them to be capable of migrating up to 140 kilometers in a day, though they typically cover less distance per day. ” Wow!

I spotted this dragonfly when I saw it fly to a perch in the vegetation just inches above the ground. I slowly made my way towards the vertically-perched Common Green Darner and surprisingly it did not move. I am not certain, but I had the impression that the dragonfly had newly emerged and was resting as its body parts dried out.

My 180mm macro lens gives you the impression that I was right on top of the dragonfly, but I was actually quite a bit farther away than it seems. After I took a few shots and moved away, the Common Green Darner remained in place. In fact, when I passed by the same area about twenty minutes later, it was still perched there.

I was thrilled by the amount of detail that I was able to capture. You can easily see the distinctive “bullseye” marking, for example, on the “face” of the dragonfly. The second image is a closer crop of the first image and it helps you to see some of the ommatidia, the thousands of faceted optical units that make up the dragonfly’s amazing compound eyes. You may want to click on the image to make it larger on your screen.

According to an on-line article called Dragonfly’s Eyes, “Dragonflies have very large eyes and have very good vision. Vision dominates their behaviour, including predation and looking for mates. The compound eye is made up of ommatidia which is a visual unit consisting of a lens system and a group of light sensitive cells. A large dragonfly may have up to 30,000 ommatidia in each compound eye. Each ommatidium collects one visual information, together form a mosaic image in the dragonfly’s brain. It is believed that the insects’ compound eyes are not as high resolution as vertebrate eyes. However, the dragonfly’s visual system is extremely sensitive to movement and it points in almost all direction and gives the 360 degree visual field.”

Common Green Darner

Common Green Darner

© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.

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Aurora Damsels

Posted in damselfly, Insects, Macro Photography, Nature, Photography, Summer, wildlife, tagged , , , , , on June 7, 2023| 3 Comments »

Last week I was delighted to spot several Aurora Damsel (Chromagrion conditum) damselflies as I was exploring a pond in Prince William County. I had seem some Aurora Damsels earlier in the spring, when they were newly emerged, but had not yet seen any mature adults.

According to the damselfly guide that I use for reference, Damselflies of the Northeast by Ed Lam, the genus Chromagrion “consists of a single species, the Aurora Damsel, a blue and black damselfly with bright yellow on the side of the thorax. It lacks eyespots and shoulder stripes and often perches with its wings slightly spread, unlike most members of its family” of Pond Damsels (Coenagrionidae).

As I have learned from photographing insects and birds, I rarely can capture all of the distinguishing features of a species in a single photograph. In the first photo, you can see the slightly-spread wings, the distinctive markings on the abdomen and thorax, and the lack of eye spots.  You cannot, however, see the bright yellow markings on the thorax. I like to think of these kinds of shots as “scientific,” because the entire body of the damselfly is in almost perfect focus.

I personally tend to be a little more fond of shots like the second image. The damselfly seems to be posing for me with its head slightly cocked and the background and the perch are creative parts of the image. The eyes of the damselfly are in focus, but most of the rest of its body is at least a little blurry. I like to think of this type of shots as “artistic.”

Most of my photography is a mixture of  the “scientific” and the “artistic” approaches. Sometimes the approach is dictated by the circumstance, e.g. when I have to react instantaneously, and sometimes the approach is a consequence of the creative choices that I have made in my camera settings or in composition or angle of view. The cool thing about photography is that it easily accommodates a wide range of approaches and I can be as geeky or artsy as I want to be at ay given moment.

Aurora damsel

Aurora Damsel

© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.

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Lancet Clubtail dragonflies

Posted in Dragonflies, dragonfly, Insects, Macro Photography, Nature, Photography, Summer, wildlife, tagged , , , , , , on June 6, 2023| Leave a Comment »

I was delighted to spot several handsome Lancet Clubtail dragonflies (Phanogomphus exilis) during a recent visit to Jackson Miles Abbott Wetland Refuge, my first sightings of this species this season. As you can see from these two photos, Lancet Clubtails like to perch flat on the ground and I spotted both of these near the edge of the pond.

I love the bright blue eyes of Lancet Clubtails and the yellow flange near the tip of the abdomen, a feature that helps to distinguish Lancet Clubtails from the visually-similar Ashy Clubtails. Some members of the Clubtail family have large and obvious “clubtails,” but the one on the male Lancet Clubtails is relatively small—you have to look at the proper angle to see it well. I like the way that the shadow in the first photo makes it easy to see the enlarged area near the end of abdomen that constitutes the “clubtail.”

Lancet Clubtail

Lancet Clubtail

© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.

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Can you spot the dragonfly?

Posted in Dragonflies, dragonfly, Insects, Nature, Photography, Summer, wildlife, tagged , , , , , , , on June 4, 2023| 8 Comments »

Can you spot the dragonfly in the first photo? Let me give you a clue—the large dragonfly is in the center of the image. Can you see it now?

Some dragonflies are easy to see, because of their bright colors or the way that they perch in the open on prominent stalks of vegetation. Others are a bit harder to see, because they perch on the ground or in dense vegetation (or they fly continuously and rarely seem to land).

The Gray Petaltail dragonfly (Tachopteryx thoreyi) is a bit of an anomaly—it perches in the open, but is still very hard to spot. Why? Its gray and black coloration is an almost perfect match for the rough bark of the trees on which it usually perches vertically. In the past I have watched a Gray Petaltail fly to a tree and perch and had trouble seeing it, even though I knew exactly where it was.

Last Wednesday I spotted my first Gray Petaltail of the season as I was exploring a small pond in Prince William County, Virginia. I had seen this dragonfly species at this location several times to the past, so I was carefully scanning the trunks of trees on which they sunlight was shining directly—Gray Petaltails seem to prefer direct sunlight, especially earlier in the day.

I often have to rely on movement to see dragonflies that are so well camouflage, but amazingly I spotted the dragonfly in the first photo while it was still perched. I cropped the image and made a few tweaks to make it a little more visible for you, but it was so tough to spot that I had to creep closer and look from a different angle to make sure that my eyes were not playing tricks on me.

For the second and third shots, I moved around the tree in an effort to better isolate the dragonfly from the tree. I think that approach worked especially well in the final photo in which the dragonfly had raised its wings a bit. Suddenly the Gray Petaltail was much more visible. I chose my angle carefully to try to get a bit of the sky in the photo—I was shooting at an upward angle—and I really like the way that the background came out in the final image.

Gray Petaltail

Gray Petaltail

Gray Petaltail

© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.

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Flying over the pond

Posted in Dragonflies, dragonfly, Insects, Nature, Photography, Summer, wildlife, tagged , , , , , , , on June 1, 2023| 4 Comments »

Several Common Baskettail dragonflies (Epitheca cynosura) were patrolling over the pond at Jackson Miles Abbott Wetland Refuge last Thursday and I spent a lot of time trying to capture images of one of them as they zoomed by me. I made attempts with both my 180mm macro lens and my 18-400mm zoom lens, sometimes using focusing manually and sometimes using auto focus. Needless to say, there is also a lot of luck involved in getting a somewhat sharp photo of a dragonfly in flight

I spent a lot of time trying to track the dragonflies. They didn’t exactly fly in a pattern, but they seemed to have a territory that they were patrolling, so they came by me at irregular intervals. In the first two shots below, I was able to get a bit of the habitat in the photo, but most of the time I was focusing solely on the dragonfly and there is nothing in the background but the somewhat muddy water of the pond.

I was happy that I was able to get some shots from a number of different angles. In some of the shots, the dragonfly was flying by me, but in other cases I manage to capture images in which the dragonfly was flying towards me or away from me. The angle was often dependent on the speed with which I was able to acquire my target in the viewfinder of my camera and successfully track it as I tried to focus on it—hand-t0-eye coordination is critical.

I used to think that it was impossible to get shots like these. It has gotten a little easier over time as I have gained experience, but it still is pretty hard. No matter how skilled I get, patience and persistence are still the most critical factors in this type of photography.

Common Baskettail

Common Baskettail

Common Baskettail

Common Baskettail

© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.

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Violet Dancer damselflies

Posted in damselfly, Insects, Nature, Photography, spring, wildlife, tagged , , , , , , , , , on May 31, 2023| 2 Comments »

Some of you may have noticed that the banner photo for this blog shows a beautiful purple damselfly, one of my favorite insects. The intense purple is really striking and is not a color that I seen very often when I am looking for wildlife to photograph. The official species name for the damselfly is Variable Dancer (Argia fumipennis), though I prefer to use the colorful and descriptive name of its most common subspecies, the Violet Dancer (Argia fumipennis violacea).

Last Thursday I was delighted to spot numerous Violet Dancers in the vegetation along the edge of a small pond at Jackson Miles Abbott Wetland Refuge.  I even managed to photograph one on the trail surrounding the pond, as you can see in the first photo in which the damselfly is perched on a small stone. For the other two shots, I was much farther away from the damselfly. These damselflies like to perch on vegetation that overhangs the water, so I shot from a distance to avoid slipping into the pond, which has happened on occasion in the past.

Violet Dancer

Violet Dancer

Violet Dancer

© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.

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Confrontational damselfly

Posted in damselfly, Insects, Macro Photography, Nature, Photography, wildlife, tagged , , , , , , on May 30, 2023| 7 Comments »

This little damselfly is called an Orange Bluet (Enallagma signatum). Yes, the name is confusing and seems to be a bit of an oxymoron. Most bluets have various patterns of blue and black on their bodies, but surprisingly there are also bluets that are patterned predominantly in red, orange, yellow, green or black. The male Orange Bluet adopted a seemingly confrontational pose and stared right at me as I prepared to photograph him last Thursday at Jackson Miles Abbott Wetland Refuge—maybe he felt the need to defend his territory.

I would have liked to have captured an eye-to-eye shot, but was afraid of scaring away the damselfly if I bent down closer to it, so took the shot from a downward angle. Although a substantial part of the Orange Bluet’s body is out of focus in this image, I think the shot worked out ok, owing largely to the fact that the damselfly’s eyes were in focus. The curve of the stalk on which it was perched was a nice bonus and added some visual interest to the shot.

Orange Bluet

© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.

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Slender Bluet damselflies

Posted in damselfly, Insects, Nature, Photography, spring, wildlife, tagged , , , , , , , on May 30, 2023| 5 Comments »

Last Thursday I was delighted to spot some Slender Bluet (Enallagma traviatum) damselflies at the small pond at Jackson Miles Abbott Wetland Refuge, my first sighting of this species this year. Although this species is quite small—about 1.2 inches (31 mm) in length—I managed to get a shot of a Slender Bluet in flight, as well as several shots of Slender Bluets perched in the vegetation at the edge of the pond.

Many of the summer species of dragonflies and damselflies have now reappeared and I will be focusing a lot of my attention in the upcoming months on highlighting the beauty of these amazing aerial acrobats.

Slender Bluet

Slender Bluet

Slender Bluet

© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.

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Hitching a ride

Posted in damselfly, Insects, Macro Photography, Nature, Photography, spring, wildlife, tagged , , , , , on May 27, 2023| 2 Comments »

I did not get a close enough look at it to identify its species, but a teneral damselfly decided to momentarily hitch a ride on my pant leg last Wednesday at Green Spring Gardens in Alexandria, VA. A teneral damselfly is one that has only recent emerged and is therefore pale and does not yet have its full adult coloration.

It turns out that a 180mm macro lens is less than optimal for a selflie, even of my leg—I could not get far enough away to include the whole damselfly in the frame. The only other alternative is for me to become a lot more flexible, which at my age does not seem very likely.

teneral damselfly

© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.

 

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Zabulon Skipper butterfly

Posted in Butterflies, Insects, Macro Photography, Nature, Photography, spring, wildlife, tagged , , , , , on May 27, 2023| 5 Comments »

There are lots of different species of skipper butterflies in my area and it is hard for me to tell them apart. I spotted this beautiful little butterfly last Wednesday at Green Spring Gardens, just a few miles from where I live. I think that it is a Zabulon Skipper (Poanes zabulon), although it might possibly be the similar-looking Peck’s butterfly. I’d like to say that there is a scientific reason why I chose Zabulon over Peck’s, but it really is because I think that Zabulon is the cooler name of the two—I love the exotic sound of the word “Zabulon.”

I tried to get down to eye-level with the butterfly when I photographed it so that the background would fall away into a pleasant green blur and was largely successful. I like too that I was able to capture some of the green striations in the leaf on which the butterfly is perched and those little lines help to lead the viewer’s eyes to the butterfly.

Zabulon Skipper

© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.

 

 

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White butterfly, pink flower

Posted in Butterflies, Flowers, Insects, Macro Photography, Nature, Photography, spring, tagged , , , , , , on May 26, 2023| 1 Comment »

This tiny Cabbage White butterfly (Pieris rapae) paused for only a moment on a pink flower, but I managed to get a shot of it on Wednesday at Green Spring Gardens. If you look closely, you can just make out the butterfly’s stunning green eyes.

The composition of this image is pretty simple, but I think it is effective. I would have liked to blur out the background a bit more, but even though it is cluttered, it is not distracting. I think that is because the pink and white are so bright and distinctive that they “pop” against the green background.

Cabbage White

© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.

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Bee tongue

Posted in Bees, Flowers, Gardening, Insects, Macro Photography, Nature, Photography, spring, wildlife, tagged , , , , , , on May 26, 2023| 3 Comments »

On Wednesday at Green Spring Gardens, a county-run historic garden just a few miles from my home, I got a really good look at this bee’s proboscis, the long, straw-like tongue that it uses to collect nectar. From my angle, it looked more like a deadly weapon. Yikes! As you can probably tell, I have switched to using my macro lens most of the time now that the warmer weather has caused more insects to reappear.

One of my friends on Facebook named this bee the “Gene Simmons” bee, because it reminded him of an iconic pose by the singer from the band KISS in which his extended tongue reached to the tip of his chin. It is hard to know if it is true, but according to urban legend, Simmons had his tongue insured for a million dollars during the 1970’s, when KISS was at its height of popularity. The popular rumor at the time that he had a cow’s tongue grafted onto his own, however, has been disproven.

bee tongue

© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.

 

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Common Baskettails in flight

Posted in Dragonflies, dragonfly, Insects, Nature, Photography, spring, wildlife, tagged , , , , , , , on May 24, 2023| 5 Comments »

I can’t help myself. Whenever I see dragonflies flying over the water, I feel compelled to try to photograph them in flight. This past weekend I spotted several Common Baskettail dragonflies (Epitheca cynosura) flying patrols over a small pond in Orkney Springs, Virginia. The dragonflies flew by numerous times, giving me a lot of opportunities to take shots.

As is usually the case, most of my shots were out of focus or included only a portion of the dragonfly at the edge of the frame. However, as most of you know, I am quite persistent and eventually I managed to get some decent shots of the dragonflies.

Several of my sharpest shots show the dragonfly against a gray background, but lack a sense of the environment. The last three shots include patches of algae and give you a really cool perspective that reminds me of the view that you get from an airplane window when you look out and see another airplane along with the ground below.

Common Baskettail

Common Baskettail

Common Baskettail

Common Baskettail

Common Baskettail

© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.

 

 

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Azure Bluet damselfly

Posted in damselfly, Insects, Macro Photography, Nature, Photography, spring, wildlife, tagged , , , , , , , on May 22, 2023| 7 Comments »

I photographed this damselfly on last Wednesday at Occoquan Regional Park in Northern Virginia. The pattern of black and blue markings on the damselfly’s abdomen was unfamiliar to me. The closest I could come when comparing it with photos in my identification guide was a female Azure Bluet (Enallagma aspersum), but identification of bluet species can be tricky, since almost all of them are black and blue and you have to look really closely to distinguish one from another.

I posted the photo in a Facebook group dedicated to dragonflies and damselflies in Virginia and was a little shocked when one of the experts in the group confirmed my tentative identification. As far as I can recall, this is a new species for me, which makes this sighting even more special.

Azure Bluet damselfly

© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.

 

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Eastern Pondhawks

Posted in Dragonflies, dragonfly, Insects, Nature, Photography, Portraits, spring, wildlife, tagged , , , , , , on May 19, 2023| 2 Comments »

I was delighted on Wednesday to spot my first Eastern Pondhawk (Erythemis simplicicollis) dragonflies of the season while I was exploring the trails at Occoquan Regional Park. As we progress into summer, this species will become quite abundant, but it is always a joy to spot these little beauties.

Females, like the ones in these photos, are bright green in color and have a banded abdomen. I did not see any males that day, but they start out with coloration similar to that of the females and then gradually transition to having a blue abdomen and a blue and green thorax. Both genders have green faces, which, along with their coloration, make them easy to identify.

I love the way that the green spring foliage matches the colors of an Eastern Pondhawk and provides a beautiful backdrop for them, as you can see in these photos.

I will be away in the mountains this weekend on a church retreat, so will probably not be posting for the next few days. I will have my camera with me, though, so you may see a few photos from my adventures there in upcoming blog postings.

Eastern Pondhawk

Eastern Pondhawk

© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.

 

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First Ebony Jewelwing of the season

Posted in damselfly, Insects, Macro Photography, Nature, Photography, spring, wildlife, tagged , , , , , , on May 18, 2023| 2 Comments »

Yesterday I spotted my first Ebony Jewelwing damselfly (Calopteryx maculata) of the season while exploring at Occoquan Regional Park in Lorton, Virginia. As far as I know, this is the only damselfly in our area with completely dark wings, so it is a pretty easy species to identify.

Most of the time I spot Ebony Jewelwings in the shadowy vegetation along small streams, but this one was perched in the open. Perhaps it was enjoying the warmth of the spring sunshine.

I am not sure why the eyes of this damselfly appear to be red, because most of the time the eyes of male Ebony Jewelwings are darker. Perhaps the reddish coloration is a result of the angle of the light or maybe it is related to the age of the individual and will darken as he grows old.

Ebony Jewelwing

© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.

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Calico Pennant dragonflies

Posted in Dragonflies, dragonfly, Insects, Macro Photography, Nature, Photography, spring, wildlife, tagged , , , , , , on May 17, 2023| 5 Comments »

I was delighted last Thursday to see quite a few Calico Pennant (Celithemis elisa) dragonflies during a visit to Occoquan Bay National Wildlife Refuge. The markings and wing patterns on this species are really striking, making this one of the most attractive species that I see during the dragonfly season.

Some of the Calico Pennants appeared to have newly emerged—when dragonflies initially break through the exoskeleton of their water-dwelling larvae selves, their wings are really shiny and fragile and their coloration is often pale. The dragonfly in the first photo appears to be in that stage of development, which is sometimes referred to as “teneral.” It you look closely at the place where the dragonfly is grasping the vegetation, you can see what is quite probably its discarded exoskeleton from which it had recently emerged.

The Calico Pennants in the second and third photo are females, as was the one in the first photo. The patterns on the wings of these more mature females are more distinct and their yellow coloration is somewhat brighter. How do I know that they are females? If you look closely at the ends of their abdomens (the “tails”) you can see the terminal appendages that indicate their gender.

Female Calico Pennants have yellow markings on their abdomens, but that is not a reliable indicator of their gender, because immature males have that same coloration. The dragonfly in the fourth photo, for example, is an immature male Calico Pennant. If you compare the tip of the abdomen of this dragonfly with the one in the third photo, you may be able to see that there are differences.

What does a mature male Calico Pennant look like? I managed to spot only a single mature male that day, but fortunately was able to capture a shot of it. As you can see in the final photo, adult male Calico Pennants have red marking on their abdomens and the veining on their wings is pinkish in color.

We are gradually transitioning to the summer dragonfly species and some of the early spring ones are starting to disappear. I’ll be keeping my eyes open for the “new” species, so don’t be surprised to see more dragonfly photos in the upcoming months.

Calico Pennant

Calico Pennant

Calico Pennant

Calico Pennant

Calico Pennant

© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.

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Puddling swallowtails

Posted in Butterflies, Insects, Nature, Photography, spring, wildlife, tagged , , , , , , on May 11, 2023| 2 Comments »

I usually think of butterflies drinking nectar from colorful flowers. Sometimes, though, newly emerged Eastern Tiger Swallowtails (Papilio polyxenes) will gather around  mud puddles or other damp spots—a behavior often referred to as “puddling”—to suck minerals and other substances out of the damp ground, like these butterflies that I spotted in early May alongside a creek in Prince William County, Virginia.

Butterflies were constantly moving in and out of a small group that seemed to be concentrated at one particular spot. As I was taking this shot, a new arrival “photobombed” me. I really like the motion blur of the arriving butterfly, which gives the image a dynamic feel and also a bit of whimsy. The second shot is a close-up view of one of the butterflies as it extracted nutrients from the moist area.

“Puddling” behavior is mostly associated with male butterflies.  According to an article at the Thoughtco website, “Nectar lacks some important nutrients the butterflies need for reproduction. For those, butterflies visit puddles. By sipping moisture from mud puddles, butterflies take in salts and minerals from the soil. This behavior is called puddling, and is mostly seen in male butterflies. That’s because males incorporate those extra salts and minerals into their sperm.”

Eastern Tiger Swallowtail

Eastern Tiger Swallowtail

© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.

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