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Slender Bluet damselflies

Posted in damselfly, Insects, Nature, Photography, spring, wildlife, tagged Canon 7D, damselfly in flight, Enallagma traviatum, Fort Belvoir VA, Jackson Miles Abbott Wetland Refuge, slender bluet, Slender Bluet damselfly, Tamron 180mm 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.

© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.

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Hitching a ride

Posted in damselfly, Insects, Macro Photography, Nature, Photography, spring, wildlife, tagged Alexandria VA, Canon 7D, damselfly, green spring gardens, Tamron 180mm, teneral damselfly 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.

© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.

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Zabulon Skipper butterfly

Posted in Butterflies, Insects, Macro Photography, Nature, Photography, spring, wildlife, tagged Canon 7D, green spring gardens, Poanes zabulon, Tamron 180mm, Zabulon Skipper, Zabulon Skipper butterfly 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.

© 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 Alexandria VA, Cabbage White, Cabbage White butterfly, Canon 7D, green spring gardens, Pieris rapae, Tamron 180mm 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.

© 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 Alexandria VA, bee, bee tongue, Canon 7D, green spring gardens, proboscis, Tamron 180mm 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.

© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.

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Common Baskettails in flight

Posted in Dragonflies, dragonfly, Insects, Nature, Photography, spring, wildlife, tagged Canon 7D, Common Baskettail, Common Baskettail dragonfly, dragonfly in flight, Epitheca cynosura, Orkney Springs VA, Shrine Mont, Tamron 18-400mm 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.

© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.

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Azure Bluet damselfly

Posted in damselfly, Insects, Macro Photography, Nature, Photography, spring, wildlife, tagged Azure Bluet, Azure Bluet damselfly, Canon 7D, Enallagma aspersum, female Azure Bluet, Lorton VA, Occoquan Regional Park, Tamron 180mm 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.

© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.

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Eastern Pondhawks

Posted in Dragonflies, dragonfly, Insects, Nature, Photography, Portraits, spring, wildlife, tagged Canon 7D, Eastern Pondhawk, Eastern Pondhawk dragonfly, Erythemis simplicicollis, Lorton VA, Occoquan Regional Park, Tamron 180mm 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.

© 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 Calopteryx maculata, Canon 7D, Ebony Jewelwing, Ebony Jewelwing damselfly, Lorton VA, Occoquan Regional Park, Tamron 180mm 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.

© 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 Calico Pennant, Calico Pennant dragonfly, Canon 7D, Celithemis elisa, Occoquan Bay National Wildlife Refuge, Tamron 18-400mm, Woodbridge VA 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.

© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.

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Puddling swallowtails

Posted in Butterflies, Insects, Nature, Photography, spring, wildlife, tagged Canon 7D, Eastern Tiger Swallowtail, Eastern Tiger Swallowtail butterfly, Papilio polyxenes, Prince William County VA, puddling, Tamron 180mm 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.”

© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.

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Macro damselfly

Posted in damselfly, Insects, Macro Photography, Nature, Photography, spring, wildlife, tagged Canon 7D, Fragile Forktail, Fragile Forktail damselfly, Ischnura posita, Prince William County VA, Tamron 180mm on May 6, 2023| 8 Comments »

I love to use my macro lenses. There is something almost magical about capturing details on tiny subjects, like this Fragile Forktail damselfly (Ischnura posita) that I spotted this past Monday alongside a pond in Prince William County, Virginia. Fragile Forktails are only about an inch (25 mm) in length, so I had to get pretty close to my subject to “fill the frame,” even with my 180mm macro lens.

One of the biggest challenges when I get this close to a subject is that my depth of field is really shallow, so I risk having a lot of my subject out of focus. In fact, in the majority of my photos of this damselfly, either the eyes or the tip of the abdomen is in focus, but not both. In this kind of situation, the “trick” to having the entire subject in focus is to position myself so that the sensor of my camera is parallel with the plane of the subject.

In this image, you can see that about the only things in focus are the damselfly and the edge of the leaf on which it was perched—the rest of the image is pleasingly blurred. This approach works pretty well with damselflies, which hold their wings above their bodies when perched, but does not work as well with dragonflies, which perch with outstretched wings. As a result, portions of the dragonflies in most of my photos are blurred, though I usually give top priority to keeping their eyes in focus.

© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.

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Tiny butterfly

Posted in Butterflies, Insects, Nature, Photography, spring, wildlife, tagged Anthocharis midea, Canon 7D, Falcate Orangetip, Falcate Orangetip butterfly, Occoquan Bay National Wildlife Refuge, Tamron 150-600mm, Woodbridge VA on May 4, 2023| 8 Comments »

I was happy that I managed to get a shot of this tiny butterfly perched low in the vegetation at Occoquan Bay National Wildlife Refuge on Wednesday. I think it may be a Falcate Orangetip (Anthocharis midea), although the butterfly never opened its wings, so I was not able to confirm that the wings were tipped with orange.

I was a bit shocked that I was able to capture so much detail of this tiny creature, given that I was shooting with my Tamron 150-600mm zoom lens fully extended to 600mm. When I bought this lens in November 2014, I remember reading reviews about the lens that stated that it was soft at 600m. That has not really been my experience. If I pay attention to my techniques and use a monopod for additional stability (as I was doing for this shot), I can shots that are acceptably sharp to my eye.

For those of you who are especially geeky, for this shot I was shooting with a Canon 7D at f/8, 1/400 sec, and ISO 800 with an exposure compensation value of minus 1.33 stops. More important than the settings, though, is the fact that I like the image that I managed to capture—that is always my number one priority.

© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.

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Common Baskettail dragonfly

Posted in Dragonflies, dragonfly, Insects, Nature, Photography, spring, wildlife, tagged Canon 7D, Common Baskettail, Common Baskettail dragonfly, Epitheca cynosura, Occoquan Bay National Wildlife Refuge, Tamron 150-600mm, Woodbridge VA on May 1, 2023| 8 Comments »

I tracked this Common Baskettail dragonfly (Epitheca cynosura) in the air for quite some time as it patrolled back and forth along one of the trails at Occoquan Bay National Wildlife Refuge, hoping that it would land. Fortunately I acted quickly when finally it did perch and was able to capture these shots.

The Dragonflies of Northern Virginia website provides the following description of the Common Baskettail, “Small, dark, constantly hovering. Fast, acrobatic flight. Often high above clearings and sunny paths/old roads. Also along pond, stream and river edges.” As you can tell from this description, it is pretty challenging to get a shot of a Common Baskettail dragonfly.

Occasionally I will try to capture an image of a Common Baskettail while it is flying, but that works better when the dragonfly is flying above a pond than when it is flying with a background of vegetation. If you are interested in seeing some shots of Common Baskettails in flight, check out my blog posting from May 2022 entitled “Flying Common Baskettail dragonflies.”

© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.

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Black Swallowtail butterflies

Posted in Butterflies, Insects, Nature, Photography, spring, wildlife, tagged black swallowtail, black swallowtail butterfly, Canon 7D, Occoquan Bay National Wildlife Refuge, Papilio polyxenes, Tamron 150-600mm, Woodbridge VA on April 24, 2023| 3 Comments »

One of the clear signs that we are moving through spring is the emergence of large numbers of full-sized butterflies. Last week I was delighted to spot multiple Black Swallowtail (Papilio polyxenes) butterflies. Dark swallowtail butterflies can sometimes be problematic for identification, because in our area we have Pipevine Swallowtails, Spicebush Swallowtails, and the dark morph female Eastern Tiger Swallowtail, in addition to the Black Swallowtail.

However, these butterflies were relatively easy to identify, because I could clearly see the black dot inside the orange dot in each of the photos, one of the field markers of a Black Swallowtail. I was quite struck by the unblemished state of each of these butterflies, which seemed to be fresh and bright with fully intact swallowtails. As the season moves on, some of the butterflies will become more and more tattered and faded.

If you are curious about the identifying marks for the different kinds of dark swallowtails, I highly recommend a blog posting by Louisiana Naturalist called Four Dark Swallowtails. In this posting, she does side-by-comparisons of the four species from different angles and points out the visible differences that are really useful in identification.

© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.

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Amorous Tailed-blue butterflies

Posted in Butterflies, Insects, Macro Photography, Nature, Photography, spring, wildlife, tagged Canon 7D, Cupido comyntas, Eastern Tailed-blue, Eastern Tailed-blue butterfly, Prince William County VA, Tamron 180mm on April 22, 2023| 7 Comments »

I don’t know much about the courting behavior of Eastern Tailed-blue butterflies (Cupido comyntas), but the male at the bottom of the photo was actively pursuing a female when I photographed them on Wednesday in Prince William County. Eastern Tailed-blues are tiny butterflies, with a wingspan of about an inch (25 mm), so you have to look really closely to see the single narrow tail on each hind wing. When their wings are closed, Eastern Tailed-blues are mostly grayish0-white in color, so it was a real visual treat to be able to capture them with their wings open.

© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.

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Common Green Darner (female)

Posted in Dragonflies, dragonfly, Insects, Nature, Photography, spring, wildlife, tagged Anax junius, Canon &D, Common Green Darner, Common Green Darner dragonfly, female Common Green Darner, Occoquan Bay National Wildlife Refuge, Tamron 150-600mm, Woodbridge VA on April 20, 2023| 9 Comments »

On Tuesday I spotted this female Common Green Darner (Anax junius) dragonfly at Occoquan Bay National Wildlife Refuge, the first darner that I have been able to photograph this season. Like most darners, Common Green Darners are relatively large dragonflies—about 3 inches (76 mm) in length—that spend a lot of time patrolling in the air. In fact, Common Green Darners are one of a handful of dragonflies that migrate, so that the earliest ones that we see in spring are likely to have migrated from more southern locations before local Common Green Darners have emerged.

When I first spotted this dragonfly, she was patrolling over a field of tall vegetation. I watched her fly back and forth for quite a while. When she decided to take a break, I was lucky to see where she landed.

As you can see in the photo, Common Green Darners normally hang vertically. In this case the dragonfly perched relatively close to the ground, so it was a bit of a challenge to frame the shot, particularly because I was shooting with my long telephoto zoom lens. I am quite pleased, though, with the resulting image that shows off a lot of the details of this species, including the distinctive black and blue “bullseye” in from of the dragonfly’s large compound eyes.

© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.

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Stream Cruiser in April

Posted in Dragonflies, dragonfly, Insects, Nature, Photography, spring, wildlife, tagged Canon 7D, Didymops transversa, Prince William County VA, Stream Cruiser, Stream Cruiser dragonfly, Tamron 180mm on April 17, 2023| 1 Comment »

Different dragonfly species perch in different ways. Some perch high and some perch low; some perch horizontally, others perch at an angle, and others hang vertically. I am always intrigued to look at the way a dragonfly is perched and, in particular, to see how the dragonfly is using its legs.

Last week I was delighted to spot a male Stream Cruiser (Didymops transversa) while I was exploring the edge of a creek in Prince William County, Virginia. The Steam Cruiser was perched low in the vegetation at an angle. Stream Cruisers have such long legs that they look somewhat uncomfortable when they are perching.

If you click on the image below, you can get a closer look at the dragonfly’s legs. The dragonfly does not seem to be using its front legs at all to perch and appears to be relying almost exclusively on its middle set of legs. The back set of legs look to be amazing long and are probably more useful for capturing prey than for perching.

© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.

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Spring dragonflies in flight

Posted in Dragonflies, dragonfly, Insects, Nature, Photography, spring, Video, wildlife, tagged Alexandria VA, Canon 7D, Didymops transversa, dragonfly in flight, Helocordulia uhleri, Prince William County VA, Stream Cruiser, Stream Cruiser dragonfly, Tamron 180mm, Uhler's Sundragon, Uhler's Sundragon dragonfly on April 16, 2023| Leave a Comment »

It is almost impossible, but I can’t help but try to capture images of dragonflies in flight. It is arguably the most difficult challenge of my ability to use my camera and also of my patience. None of the dragonflies in these photos flew close to the shores of the streams that I was exploring in Prince William County, Virginia, and I was using only a modest telephoto lens that I was focusing manually—the autofocus on my Tamron 180mm macro lens is relatively slow and could not focus on the dragonflies as they zoomed on by.

Last Wednesday I photographed the dragonfly in the first photo as it was patrolling over a creek. I believe that it is a Uhler’s Sundragon dragonfly (Helocordulia uhleri), which is about 1.8 inches (46 mm) in length. The dragonfly was not exactly following a pattern, but I was able to track it as it flew all around a small section of the creek.

The dragonfly in the second image may also be a Uhler’s Sundragon, though I am less confident of this identification. I really like the fact that the eyes of the dragonfly are in shart focus. It is probably just my imagination, but this dragonfly seemed to glance up at me and smile as it flew on by. In this photo, as in the first one, you really have a sense of the environment in which I found the dragonfly.

I captured the final image on Friday as I was exploring a different creek in Prince William County. The dragonfly in this photo was much larger than the ones in the other photos and was flying much faster and seemed to be conducting patrols over a much longer stretch of the creek. All the image was not completely sharp, I captured enough details to be able to identify it as male Stream Cruiser (Didymops transversa) dragonfly, a species that is about 2.2 inches (56 mm) in length.

Last year I did a short video on YouTube called Impossible Shots? Dragonflies in Flight in which I talked about one of my forays into the field and highlighted my approach to photographing dragonflies. Check it out if you want to see some more shots of dragonflies in flight or if you simply want to hear my voice and see my face. I included a link to the video in the title of the video (which should appear in color and underlined) and am also going to try to paste it into the end of posting, so you don’t have to go to YouTube to watch it. I am still just dabbling in video, but want to try to do more of it this year.

© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.

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Blue Corporal dragonflies

Posted in Dragonflies, dragonfly, Insects, Macro Photography, Nature, Photography, spring, wildlife, tagged Blue Corporal, Blue Corporal dragonfly, Canon 7D, Ladona deplanata, Occoquan Bay National Wildlife Refuge, Tamron 150-600mm, Tamron 180mm, Woodbridge VA on April 14, 2023| 4 Comments »

On Monday I was thrilled to photograph my first dragonfly of the year at Occoquan Bay National Wildlife Refuge, the location that I visit most frequently with my camera. The first prize goes to an immature male Blue Corporal dragonfly (Ladona deplanata)—males turn blue as they mature, but initially they have the same coloration as the females. Blue Corporals of both genders have two light-colored stripes on the front of their thoraxes, the traditional rank military insignia for corporals.

Later in the day I spotted a female Blue Corporal perched on some dry leaves, as shown in the second photo. Can you spot the differences between the dragonflies in the first and second photos? The male abdomen tends to be a bit thinner than the abdomen of the female. However, the biggest difference is in the terminal appendages, i.e. the specific parts at the very tip of their abdomens (their “tails”).

The following day I returned to the refuge and spotted another Blue Corporal perched in some vegetation—I think it is another immature male. Most of the time Blue Corporals like to perch on the ground, but this one looked like it had only recently emerged and may have been waiting for its wings to harden.

When dragonflies undergo their metamorphosis from water-dwelling nymphs to aerial acrobats, their wings are initially very clear and fragile and the creatures are very vulnerable, so I was careful not to disturb the dragonfly when I took a few photos. If you are interested to learn more, check out a 2016 blog posting Metamorphosis of a dragonfly in which I documented the entire transformation process of a Common Sandragon dragonfly in a series of 15 photos. At the end of that series you will be able to see why I characterized the wings of a newly-emerged dragonfly as “fragile.”

© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.

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Twin-spotted Spiketails

Posted in Dragonflies, dragonfly, Insects, Nature, Photography, spring, tagged Cordulegaster maculata, Lorton VA, Occoquan Regional Park, spiketail, Twin-spotted Spiketail, Twin-spotted Spiketail dragonfly on April 12, 2023| 6 Comments »

I was extremely happy yesterday to encounter several Twin-spotted Spiketail dragonflies (Cordulegaster maculata) during a visit to Occoquan Regional Park, a county-run recreational park in Lorton, Virginia. In the past I have occasionally seen Twin-spotted Spiketails at this location and I went there specifically to look for this species—I was hopeful, but realistic in my expectations of finding this relatively uncommon dragonfly.

Spiketails are a small family of large black or brown dragonflies with similar bright yellow stripes on their thoraxes and species-specific makings on their abdomens. Females have a spike-like pseudo-ovipositor at the end of their abdomens that is responsible for the “spiketail” name.

When I first encountered a spiketail yesterday, it was flying in the air and I was not sure what kind of dragonfly it was. Fortunately I was able to see where it landed and when I got closer, I was ecstatic, because I could actually see the dragonfly’s “spike,” as you can see in the first photo.

There are several other spiketail species in our area, but the Twin-spotted Spiketail is the only one that is flying this early in the season. The flight season for most of the early season dragonflies lasts for only a month or so, so I try to spend as much time outdoors as I can during April and May to maximize my chances of seeing these uncommon species. As you can probably judge, from the first photo, Twin-spotted Spiketails are large, almost 3 inches (76 mm) in length. Although you can’t really seen the markings in the first photo, there are a paired yellow spots or rounded triangles along the length of the abdomen.

I decided to hang around the area where I spotted the first spiketail to see if others would fly by and my patience was rewarded. I was able to capture shot of several other Twin-spotted Spiketails as you can see in the second and third photos. Both of these spiketails are males, I believe, and therefore do not have the visible “spike.” In those photos, though, you get a pretty good view of the pattern of the paired spots, which is why the species is called “twin-spotted.”

This dragonfly season is starting out with a bang and I feel blessed to have photographed several uncommon species already. Temperatures today are forecast to rise to about 84 degrees (29 degrees C) and I plant to continue my search for beautiful and elusive aerial acrobats, like these Twin-spotted Spiketails.

© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.

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Zebra Swallowtail—spring form

Posted in Butterflies, Insects, Nature, Photography, spring, wildlife, tagged Canon 7D, Eurytides marcellus, Occoquan Bay National Wildlife Refuge, Tamron 150-600mm, Woodbridge VA, Zebra Swallowtail, Zebra Swallowtail butterfly on April 11, 2023| 6 Comments »

Yesterday was a beautiful spring day and I was delighted to capture this image of a Zebra Swallowtail (Eurytides marcellus), one of my favorite butterflies, at Occoquan Bay National Wildlife Refuge. I chased after this hyperactive butterfly and luckily was close enough to get a shot when it landed for a split second. I love the touches of red and blue on this mostly monochromatic butterfly and its distinctive long “tails.”

As I was doing a little research on this butterfly, I discovered that the Zebra Swallowtail has two seasonal forms, one occurring in the spring and the other in the summer. According to Wikipedia, the spring forms are smaller, more white, and have short, black tails with white tips. As you can see from the first photo below, yesterday’s Zebra Swallowtail was a spring form butterfly.

Summer forms of the Zebra Swallowtail are larger, have broader black stripes, and longer, black tails with white edges. For the sake of comparison, I reprised a photo from a 6 September 2021 blog posting. The butterfly in the second photo, a summer form butterfly, indeed looks darker than the one in the first photo and there are noticeable differences in the shape and coloration of the tails.

© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.

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Cuckoo Bee and Spring Beauty

Posted in Flowers, Insects, Macro Photography, Nature, Photography, spring, tagged Claytonia virginica, cuckoo bee, genus Nomada, Kleptoparasitic bees, nomad bee, Prince William County VA, Spring Beauty, Virginia Spring Beauty on April 10, 2023| 1 Comment »

Early spring wildflowers, like the Virginia Spring Beauty (Claytonia virginica), are an important source of food for a host of small bees and other insects. Many insects gather pollen from these flowers and in doing so help to pollinate the plants.

Some species of bees, though, lack scopa (the pollen-collecting hairs) and do not collect pollen to feed their offspring. The genus Nomada, according to Wikipedia, is the largest genus of kleptoparasitic bees sometimes referred to as “cuckoo bees.” Kleptoparasitic bees are so named because they enter the nests of a host and lay eggs there, stealing resources that the host has already collected.

It is a little hard to see the body of the bee in the photo below, but if you look closely you can see its striped abdomen, which is wasp-like in appearance. I was not sure of the type of bee, so I posted it to BugGuide, a useful resource for insect identification, and one of the experts there identified the bee as belonging to the genus Nomada.

© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.

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Dragonfly legs

Posted in Dragonflies, dragonfly, Insects, Macro Photography, Nature, Photography, spring, wildlife, tagged Canon 7D, Haliaeetus leucocephalus, Helocordulia uhleri, Prince William County VA, Tamron 180mm, Uhler's Sundragon, Uhler's Sundragon dragonfly on April 8, 2023| 3 Comments »

Have you ever looked closely at a dragonfly’s legs? A dragonfly has six legs that are attached in pairs to its thorax. The main parts of the leg are the upper leg or femur, the lower leg or tibia, and the foot or tarsus, which is made up of three segments and ends with a pair of claws. The legs are covered with spiky hairs and fulfill a variety of functions, including perching, catching and holding onto prey, and cleaning its mouth and eyes.

The first photo is a close-up view of a Uhler’s Sundragon (Helocordulia uhleri) that I spotted on 4 April near a creek in Prince William County, Virginia. You get a really good view of one of the middle legs of the dragonfly, including the way that it bends at two joints and the way the tiny claws are used to hold onto the perch. I can’t be sure, but I believe that the dragonfly may be using one of its front legs to wipe its large compound eye. If you click on the photo, you can see some of the thousands of ommatidia, the faceted optical units that allow a dragonfly to see in almost 360 degrees around itself.

In the second photo, you can see that the sets of legs are of different lengths. The back legs, which are the longest, are the ones that are most often used to catch and subdue prey. The front leg nearest us, does not seem to be used and the moment for perching and the “elbow” appears to be touching the eye. At first I thought that this was merely an awkward perch, but the more I look at the photo, the more I think that the dragonfly is cleaning its eye.

The final photo, which was actually the first of these photos that I took, shows the entire body of the Uhler’s Sundragon. The Uhler’s Sundragon is visually similar to the Selys’s Sundragon, the first dragonfly that I spotted this year, with the notable difference that the Uhler’s Sundragon has little orange patches at the base of its wings, as you can see in the photo, that are not present with the Selys’s Sundragon. If you look at the front legs, it appears to me that the dragonfly was using both of them initially for perching—its “elbow” does not appear to bent as it was in the middle photo.

This post was a little more “geeky” than usual, delving deeper into dragonfly anatomy than I usually do. I think it is fascinating to try to observe and understand the behavior that I see in my subjects and hope that you may also find these details to be somewhat interesting.

© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.

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Fragile Forktail—First 2023 Damselfly

Posted in damselfly, dragonfly, Insects, Macro Photography, Nature, Photography, spring, tagged Canon 7D, first damselfly of 2023, Fragile Forktail, Fragile Forktail damselfly, Ischnura posita, Prince William County VA, Romeo and Juliet, Shakespeare, Tamron 180mm on April 7, 2023| 4 Comments »

As I was exploring the edge of the same small pond where I photographed the newt featured in yesterday’s blog posting, I spotted my first damselfly of the season. Damselflies and dragonflies both belong to the order of flying insects known as Odonata. Damselflies tend to be smaller and slimmer that dragonflies and most damselflies hold their wings above their bodies when at rest, unlike dragonflies that perch with wings extended.

Identification of this damselfly was somewhat difficult for me. On the one hand, I saw the broken shoulder stripe that looks like an exclamation point, which suggests that this is a Fragile Forktail damselfly (Ischnura posita). On the other hand, my identification guide states that there is no blue at the tip of the abdomen (the “tail”) of the Fragile Forktail, making me think it might be an Eastern Forktail.

I posted the photo to a Facebook forum called Virginia Odonata and one of the experts there made the following comment, “This is quite an unusual Forktail. Easterns rarely have the split shoulder stripe, but I am still inclined toward Fragile even though the amount of blue on S9 is unusual.” For your information, naturalists divide the abdomen of a dragonfly into ten segments and you start counting from the thorax area (the upper body), so S9 is the penultimate segment.

When it comes to identifying birds and insects, I have grown accustomed to living with some degree of uncertainty. Even experts will sometimes disagree, particularly if there is only a photo from a single angle, which was the case with this damselfly.

For me, the precision of my identification is not critically important—I can enjoy the beauty of this little damselfly without knowing its name. For the second day in a row, I am reminded of Shakespeare, who famously wrote in Romeo and Juliet, “What’s in a name? That which we call a rose, by any other name would smell as sweet.”

© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.

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Selys’s Sundragon—first 2023 dragonfly

Posted in Dragonflies, dragonfly, Insects, Macro Photography, Nature, spring, wildlife, tagged Canon 7D, first dragonfly of 2023, Helocordulia selysii, Prince William County VA, Selys's Sundragon, Selys's Sundragon dragonfly, Tamron 180mm on April 5, 2023| 8 Comments »

Yesterday was an unusually warm spring day, with temperatures soaring to 82 degrees (28 C). I suspected that I might find some early season dragonflies and I was right. Last week I saw my first dragonfly of 2023, but it does not really count for me, because I was not able to get a photograph of it.

My first “official” dragonfly of 2023 turned out to be an uncommon one, a Selys’s Sundragon (Helocordulia selysii). According to the Maryland Biodiversity Project, “Selys’s Sundragon is an uncommon, early-season corduliid which breeds in small streams in wooded areas through much of the southeast.” Corduliidae, also known as the emeralds, emerald dragonflies, or green-eyed skimmers, is the family of dragonflies to which the Selys’s Sundragons belong.

As far as I can recall, I have seen this species only twice in the past, both times in 2021. Check my 16 April 2021 blog posting entitled Selys’s Sundragon Dragonfly for details about my first encounter, including some photos that compare the Selys’s Sundragon with the very similar-looking Uhler’s Sundragon.

As many of you know, dragonflies are my favorite subjects to photograph during the warmer months. There is something almost magical about this beautiful aerial acrobats that inspires me. I love the challenge of spotting and photographing these tiny creatures—the Selys’s Sundragon in these photos, for example, is only about 1.7 inches (43 mm) in length.

During the summer, many common dragonfly species can be seen in a variety of habitats, but the early season dragonflies tend to be habitat specialists and have very brief flight season, often less than a month. For that reason, I usually try to go out with my camera as often as I can during the month of April.

© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.

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Not a butterfly

Posted in Insects, Macro Photography, Nature, Photography, spring, wildlife, tagged Canon 7D, Grapevine Epimenis Moth, Occoquan Bay National Wildlife Refuge, Psychomorpha epimenis, Tamron 150-600mm, Woodbridge VA on April 1, 2023| 3 Comments »

At this time of the year I am drawn to any insects that I see flying about and I have found myself chasing after even small flies. There’s usually a period of readjustment as I switch from searching for subjects that are far away to looking for tiny subjects that are often only an arm’s length away from me. Most of the time I have to rely upon movement to spot these insects—only occasionally am I able to spot a perched insect.

As I noted in yesterday’s blog posting, I finally spotted my first two butterflies of the spring. I thought I had spotted a third butterfly last Wednesday at Occoquan Bay National Wildlife Refuge when this colorful little insect flew in front of me. I am pretty familiar with the butterflies in my area, but did not recognize this one.

After doing some research, I have concluded that this is probably a Grapevine Epimenis Moth (Psychomorpha epimenis). According to the Missouri Department of Conservation, “The grapevine epimenis flies during daytime and would seem too colorful to be a moth, but a moth it is. A member of the noctuid family, its many drab, grayish relatives include dagger, owlet, armyworm, cutworm, and earworm moths.”

© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.

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First spring butterflies

Posted in Butterflies, Insects, Nature, Photography, spring, wildlife, tagged Canon 7D, Celastrina ladon, Mourning Cloak, Mourning Cloak butterfly, Nymphalis antiopa, Spring Azure, Spring Azure butterfly, Tamron 150-600mm on March 31, 2023| 5 Comments »

I finally spotted my first butterflies of the spring. As I was walking down one of the trails at Occoquan Bay National Wildlife Refuge on Wednesday, a fellow photographer excitedly pointed out this Mourning Cloak (Nymphalis antiopa) butterfly that was sunning itself on the trail. Mourning Cloaks overwinter as adults and are usually one of the first species to appear in the spring. According to Wikipedia, “These butterflies have a lifespan of 11 to 12 months, one of the longest lifespans for any butterfly.”

Later in the afternoon, I spotted a Spring Azure (Celastrina ladon) butterfly that was perched amidst the rocks on a gravely section of one of the trails. Spring Azure butterflies are very small—about one inch (25 mm) in size—and it was quite a challenge to get a shot of this one using the 150-600mm lens that was on my camera at that moment.

Yesterday I spotted an Eastern Tiger Swallowtail butterfly as I was searching for dragonflies at another location, but was unable to get a shot of it. I also briefly caught a glimpse of one dragonfly, but again was unable to get a shot. As the weather continues to warm, I’ll be out with my camera more often in search of these beautiful little creatures—it finally feels like spring is here.

© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.

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American Robin in December

Posted in Birds, Insects, Nature, Photography, wildlife, Winter, tagged American robin, Canon 7D, European Robin, Occoquan Bay National Wildlife Refuge, robin, Tamron 150-600mm, Turdus migratorius, Woodbridge VA on December 19, 2022| 3 Comments »

When I was growing up, American Robins (Turdus migratorius)were viewed as a harbinger of spring. In Northern Virginia, where I now live, I see them throughout most of the year. Last week I spotted this one almost hidden in the vegetation at Occoquan Bay National Wildlife Refuge. Despite the cluttered environment, the robin’s orange breast seemed to almost glow in the bright sunshine, making it easy to spot.

During most of my life I have been accustomed to calling this bird simply a “robin.” Since I started my blog, though, I have become sensitized to the fact that there are other robins in different parts of the year that share little in common with the American Robin other than their shared name. The European Robin, for example, is part of the flycatcher family, while the American Robin is part of the thrush family.

In November 2019 I was blessed to spot a European Robin as I was walking along one of the trails in the Bois de Boulogne in the outskirts of Paris. If you have never seen a European Robin, you may want to check out my blog posting entitled “European Robin in Paris,” that features a photo from that encounter.

© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.

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Autumn Meadowhawk in late November

Posted in Autumn, Dragonflies, dragonfly, Insects, Nature, Photography, wildlife, tagged Autumn Meadowhawk, Autumn Meadowhawk dragonfly, Canon 7D, Occoquan Bay National Wildlife Refuge, Sympetrum vicinum, Tamron 150-600mm, Woodbridge VA on November 26, 2022| 2 Comments »

Despite our recent frigid weather, some Autumn Meadowhawk dragonflies (Sympetrum vicinum) are still with us, like this handsome male that I spotted on Monday at Occoquan Bay National Wildlife Refuge. Autumn Meadowhawks are invariably the last dragonflies of the season in my area. They are more tolerant of the cold than most other dragonflies and seem to be able capable of withstanding frosts and freezes if not prolonged or severe.

It is a real challenge to find and photograph Autumn Meadowhawks, because they are small—about 1.3 inches (33 mm)—and they tend to perch among the fallen leaves, where they blend in well with their surroundings. One additional challenge for me was the fact that I was shooting them at the 600mm end of my Tamron 150-600mm zoom lens. At that focal length, the minimum focusing distance for the lens is about 8.8 feet (270 cm), which means that I have to be a pretty good ways away from my tiny subject.

I hope to see these little red dragonflies into early December, assuming that the weather does not stay cool for too long a period and we do not have an extended period of cloudy weather—on cool days I tend to find Autumn Meadowhawks in areas where there is direct sunlight.

© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.

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Female Blue-faced Meadowhawk dragonfly

Posted in Autumn, Dragonflies, dragonfly, Insects, Nature, Photography, wildlife, tagged Blue-faced Meadowhawk, Blue-faced Meadowhawk dragonfly, Canon 7D, female Blue-faced Meadowhawk, Occoquan Bay National Wildlife Refuge, Sympetrum ambiguum, Tamron 18-400mm, Woodbridge VA on November 20, 2022| 3 Comments »

I suspect that the species is gone for the season by now, but here are a couple of shots of a female Blue-faced Meadowhawk dragonfly (Sympetrum ambiguum) that I spotted at Occoquan Bay National Wildlife Refuge on 21 October 2022, before my trip to Texas. Many of the females are tan in color, like the one in these shots, which makes them hard to spot among the fallen leaves. Some female Blue-faced Meadowhawks, however, are male-like in color, i.e. they are red, and are sometimes referred to as andromorphs.

Since my return from Texas, we have had cold temperatures that have often dipped below the freezing level. This week I will be out looking for some late season dragonflies. In the past I have sometimes seen Autumn Meadowhawks in November and occasionally even in December. It is quite possible, though, that I have seen my final dragonflies of the season and will switch to photographing birds most of the time.

© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.

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