Feeds:
Posts
Comments

Archive for the ‘Insects’ Category

Blue-faced female

Posted in Dragonflies, dragonfly, Insects, Macro Photography, Nature, Photography, wildlife, tagged , , , , , , , , on September 14, 2017| 6 Comments »

As the seasons change, some dragonflies begin to disappear, but happily some new ones appear, like this spectacular female Blue-faced Meadowhawk (Sympetrum ambiguum) that I spotted this past Monday at Huntley Meadows Park.

One of the really cool things about this species is that there are two different color variants of the females. Most of the females (and young males) are brown in color and are sometimes referred to as heteromorphs, while a smaller number of females, like the one in the photo, have a bright red color matching that of mature males and are sometimes referred to as andromorphs. This is roughly parallel to the Eastern Tiger Swallowtail butterfly, which has two different varieties of female, a yellow morph that matches the males and a black morph.

Blue-faced Meadowhawk

© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.

Read Full Post »

Fine-lined Emerald dragonfly

Posted in Dragonflies, dragonfly, Insects, Nature, Photography, wildlife, tagged , , , , , , on September 13, 2017| Leave a Comment »

What is a Fine-lined Emerald? It may sound like some kind of exotic jewel, but it is actually a relatively rare dragonfly that is found in coastal plains areas. I don’t recall having heard of this species until several weeks ago, when fellow dragonfly enthusiast Walter Sanford alerted me to keep an eye out for them when visiting nearby Occoquan Bay National Wildlife Refuge.

I met Walter this past Sunday at the wildlife refuge and we began out search for the elusive Fine-lined Emerald (Somatochlora filosa). This species tends to hang vertically from bare branches at about eye level, so we walked slowly past the never-ending vegetation, hoping that we would spot one. I honestly was not optimistic that we would be successful and was shocked to almost stumble upon one only about four feet from me. I had two big problems. First of all, I was using my Tamron 150-600mm lens that has a minimum focusing distance of almost 9 feet (2.7 meters), so I had to back up. Secondly, in my excitement, I was unable to clearly explain to Walter exactly where the dragonfly was perched. In the end, the dragonfly flew away before either of us was able to get a shot.

Eventually we were able to track that dragonfly and several other Fine-lined Emeralds and to capture some images of these beautiful creatures. Walter and I agreed that we would both do blog postings with some of our shots today to give readers an idea of how two photographers standing almost side by side can come up with very different photos of the same subject. We have done this type of companion pieces and it had always been interesting to compare results. Some of the differences can be attributed to the very different gear that we are using and some are caused by our different backgrounds and approaches.

Once I publish this posting, I will finally take a look at Walter’s posting and update this posting with a link to it.

UPDATE:  Here is the link, as promised, to Walter’s post, in which he shares some scientific observations and some wonderful photos.

Fine-lined Emerald

Fine-lined EmeraldFine-lined Emerald

© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.

Read Full Post »

Black Swallowtail butterfly

Posted in Butterflies, Insects, Nature, Photography, wildlife, tagged , , , , , , on September 12, 2017| Leave a Comment »

This spectacular Black Swallowtail butterfly (Papilio polyxenes) spread its wings wide and seemed to be posing for fellow wildlife enthusiast Walter Sanford and for me as we explored Occoquan Bay National Wildlife Refuge this past weekend. We have a number of different dark-colored swallowtail butterflies in our region, including the black morph of the female Eastern Tiger Swallowtail, the Pipevine Swallowtail, and the Spicebush Swallowtail, but this is the only place that I have encountered the Black Swallowtail.

Whenever I photograph a swallowtail that is black, I will usually refer to a very helpful blog posting by Louisiana Naturalist that compares some of the identification features of the four different dark swallowtails.

Black Swallowtail

© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.

Read Full Post »

Praying on 9/11

Posted in Insects, Macro Photography, Nature, Photography, wildlife, tagged , , , , , , on September 11, 2017| 1 Comment »

When I spotted this praying mantis today at Huntley Meadows Park, I couldn’t help but think that it had chosen an appropriate pose to remember those who died and countless others whose live were forever changed by the tragic events of 9/11.

praying mantis

© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.

Read Full Post »

Spider and damselfly

Posted in Arachnids, damselfly, Insects, Macro Photography, Nature, Photography, spiders, wildlife, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , on September 11, 2017| 4 Comments »

When a Black and Yellow Garden Spider (Argiope aurantia) traps a prey in its web, it often moves so quickly to wrap it up completely that it is difficult to identify the prey. That was not the case with the damselfly that I spotted yesterday at Occoquan Bay National Wildlife Refuge as it was being encased in a silken shroud.

The damselfly looks to be a bluet damselfly and if pressed, I’d guess that it might be a Familiar Bluet (Enallagma civile) or possibly a Big Bluet (Enallagma durum). The spider seems to be experiencing the same kind of problem that I encounter when I am trying to wrap an awkwardly-shaped present at Christmas time—it is hard to be neat and tidy, the process uses up lots of wrapping material, and the package always end up irregularly shaped and easy to identify.

spider and damselfly

© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved

 

 

Read Full Post »

Wandering Glider dragonfly

Posted in Dragonflies, dragonfly, Insects, Macro Photography, Nature, Photography, wildlife, tagged , , , , , , , , on September 10, 2017| 4 Comments »

When I first saw this dragonfly land yesterday at Occoquan Bay National Wildlife Refuge, I had no idea what it was. Zooming in, I was shocked to see that it was a Wandering Glider (Pantala flavescens), a migratory species that almost never perches.

The Wandering Glider is considered to be the most widespread dragonfly in the world, found on every continent except Antarctica. According to odonatacentral.com, “It is a strong flier that is regularly encountered by ocean freighters and a well-known migratory species. Because of its ability to drift with the wind, feeding on aerial plankton, until it finally encounters a rain pool in which it breeds, it has been called “…the world’s most evolved dragonfly.” ”

After I got the initial shots of the dragonfly on two different perches, I decided to follow the dragonfly and wait for it to perch again. It wandered about through the air over my head for an extended period of time and never again came down to land. The last photo gives you an idea of my view during that period of waiting—note the long wings that help it to fly such long distances.

Wandering Glider

Wandering Glider

Wandering Glider

© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved

Read Full Post »

Male Calico Pennant Dragonfly

Posted in Dragonflies, dragonfly, Insects, Nature, Photography, wildlife, tagged , , , , , , on September 9, 2017| 4 Comments »

I was really happy to spot a couple of male Calico Pennant dragonflies (Celithemis elisa) during a visit today to Occoquan Bay National Wildlife Refuge in Woodbridge, Virginia. The weather was pretty cool when I set out early this morning, about 56 degrees (13 degrees C), so I was not certain that I would be able to find many dragonflies. Fortunately for me it warmed up a bit and a few dragonflies appeared.

The bright red color of this dragonfly helps a little in finding them, but Calico Pennants are pretty small and it is easy to lose them in the vegetation. I shot the first two shots with my Canon 50D DSLR and Tamron 150-600mm telephoto zoom lens and the third one with my Canon SX50 super zoom camera. The poses are not identical, but I think that you can see how much shallower the depth of field is when using the DSLR than the point-and-and-shoot—I think it is related to the difference in the size of the sensors in the cameras.

Calico Pennant

Calico Pennant

Calico Pennant

© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved

 

Read Full Post »

Migrant Hawker in Brussels

Posted in Dragonflies, dragonfly, Insects, Nature, Photography, Travel, wildlife, tagged , , , , , , , on September 5, 2017| Leave a Comment »

The most colorful dragonfly that I have spotted in Brussels during this trip has been a spectacular male Migrant Hawker dragonfly (Aeshna mixta) that was flying patrols over a small pond at the botanical garden.  It spent a lot of time in the air, but occasionally would perch for a short while. Every now it then it would hover over the water, which let me capture the second shot of the dragonfly in flight. My Canon SX50 is a little slow in acquiring focus, so I didn’t think that I would be able to capture any action shots of the dragonfly. However, I kept trying and eventually was able to get a reasonably sharp shot. When I checked out the shooting data for the image, I realized that the shutter speed had dropped to 1/100 second because of the dark water, so it’s almost a miracle that I stopped the action at all—I was shooting in aperture priority mode and was letting the camera choose the shutter speed.

Migrant Hawker

Migrant Hawker

 © Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved

Read Full Post »

Red dragonfly in Brussels

Posted in Dragonflies, dragonfly, Insects, Nature, Photography, wildlife, tagged , , , , on September 4, 2017| 3 Comments »

When I spotted a red dragonfly in flight while exploring the botanical garden in Brussels, I immediately gave chase. Unfortunately the dragonfly chose to perch on a weathered wooden fence a good distance away. Unable to get any closer to the dragonfly, I did my best to incorporate the fence into the composition.

I kept looking later in the day for the elusive red dragonfly, which looks a little like the Autumn Meadowhawk dragonfly that I see in my home area, but I never saw it again.

dragonfly in Brussels

dragonfly in Brussels

 

© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved

Read Full Post »

My favorite insect

Posted in Insects, Macro Photography, Nature, Photography, wildlife, tagged , , , , , , , , on September 1, 2017| 6 Comments »

Do you have a favorite insect? This is such a strange question that most folks would not have an immediate answer and would have to stop and think a bit before responding. The quickest responses would undoubtedly come from those who simply do not like insects at all. The most common positive answer, I suspect, might well be a Monarch Butterfly.

Many readers know that I see lots of beautiful dragonflies and butterflies, but my favorite insect is almost certainly the Handsome Meadow Katydid (Orchelimum pulchellum), like this one that I photographed on Monday at Occoquan Bay National Wildlife Refuge. I remember my sense of awe and amazement the first time that I spotted one—I couldn’t believe my own eyes, because the combination of colors seemed so bright and almost unreal. When I initially posted a photo of the Handsome Meadow Katydid, one of my friends thought that I had added the colors in Photoshop.

To this day, I never fail to marvel at a Handsome Meadow Katydid’s spectacular rainbow colors and incredible blue eyes and am always thrilled to discover again their amazing beauty when I am fortunate enough to find one.

Handsome Meadow Katydid

© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved

Read Full Post »

Halloween Pennants mating

Posted in Art, Dragonflies, dragonfly, Insects, Nature, Photography, Summer, tagged , , , , , , , on August 31, 2017| 1 Comment »

The biological clocks of some species seem to be ticking as the summer winds down, compelling them into frantically mating sessions, like this pair of Halloween Pennant dragonflies (Celithemis eponina) that I spotted this past weekend at Lilypons Water Gardens in Adamstown, Maryland. The challenge in photographing this type of activity is to present it in a way that is artistic rather than purely sexual.

halloween pennant

halloween pennant

© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved

Read Full Post »

Hummingbird moth in late August

Posted in Flowers, Insects, Nature, Photography, Summer, wildlife, tagged , , , , , , , on August 30, 2017| 8 Comments »

Whenever I see bees buzzing around flowers, I keep an eye out for hummingbird moths. For some unknown reason, I have seen more of these colorful moths this summer than in past years.

Although you could argue about whether or not thistles are flowers, my vigilance was rewarded when I spotted this beautiful Hummingbird Clearwing Moth (Hemaris thysbe) feeding on this thistle bloom on Monday at Occoquan Bay National Wildlife Refuge.

Hummingbird Clearwing Moth

Hummingbird Clearwing Moth

© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved

Read Full Post »

Russet-tipped Clubtail

Posted in Dragonflies, dragonfly, Insects, Nature, Photography, wildlife, tagged , , , , , , on August 29, 2017| Leave a Comment »

As summer begins to wind down for those of us in the Northern Hemisphere, some of the dragonfly species in our area are starting to disappear. Fortunately, though, some new species appear late in the season to take their places, like this Russet-tipped Clubtail dragonfly (Stylurus plagiatus) that I spotted yesterday at Occoquan Bay National Wildlife Refuge in Woodbridge, Virginia.

Unlike many of the dragonflies that I see regularly that seem to prefer pole-like perches or perch flat on the ground, Russet-tipped Clubtails like to hang from the leaves of vegetation either at an angle, as this one is doing, or vertically. I was pretty excited to find this dragonfly, because I have seen a member of this species only once before, last year at a different location, Jackson Miles Abbott Wetland Refuge.

Russet-tipped Clubtail

© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved

Read Full Post »

Male Twelve-spotted Skimmer

Posted in abstract, Art, Dragonflies, dragonfly, Insects, Nature, Photography, tagged , , , , , , on August 27, 2017| 3 Comments »

When it comes to dragonflies, what catches your eye? Is it their bright colors or their acrobatic flying skills? When it comes to male Twelve-spotted Skimmers (Libellula pulchella), it is definitely the bold brown-and-white pattern on their wings that irresistibly attracts me. I somehow feel compelled to chase after one whenever I spot it.

Yesterday I made a brief trip to Lilypons Water Gardens in Adamstown, Maryland. This sprawling facility has over 150 acres of amazing ponds and water gardens with fantastic displays of water lilies, which are for sale. (I’ll feature some of the different colored water lilies in an upcoming post.) Although I saw a lot of dragonflies there, I saw only a few Twelve-spotted Skimmers.

Most of them were remarkably elusive, but one finally perched on some vegetation overhanging the water. The bank was fairly steep, so there was no way that I could get a side shot or a head-on shot, which is one of my favorite shots of a dragonfly. What was I going to do?

Then it dawned on me that I had a perfect view of the magnificent wing patterns as I looked straight down the body of the dragonfly, facing in the same direction that he was facing. Boldly I decided to commit what is normally a cardinal sin for a photographer—I intentionally chose not to focus on the subject’s eyes. Lightning did not strike me as I pressed the shutter and I captured an almost abstract portrait of the dragonfly. For me, there is a real beauty in the simplicity and minimalism of this image.

In case you get confused about counting the twelve spots, you’re supposed to count only the brown spots. According to Wikipedia, though,some folks prefer to count the white spots and therefore call this dragonfly a “Ten-spot Skimmer.”

Twelve-spotted Skimmer

© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved

 

Read Full Post »

Summer wear

Posted in Dragonflies, dragonfly, Insects, Nature, Photography, Summer, tagged , , , , , , on August 25, 2017| Leave a Comment »

As the days of summer gradually wind down, I can’t help but notice a significant amount of wear and tear on the bodies and especially the wings of some of the dragonflies and butterflies that I see. Clearly it has been a long, tough season for some of them. Despite its tattered wings, this male Great Blue Skimmer dragonfly (Libellula vibrans) that I spotted on Monday at Huntley Meadows Park seemed to have no trouble flying, though I suspect that his days are numbered.

I hope that all of you have managed to survive this season well and that your “summer wear” refers to your clothes and not to the condition of your body.

Great Blue Skimmer

© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved

Read Full Post »

Dragons in the air

Posted in Dragonflies, dragonfly, Insects, Nature, Photography, wildlife, tagged , , , , , , , , , on August 24, 2017| 2 Comments »

Different species of dragonflies fly in different ways. Some soar high in the air and some cruise just above the surface of the water. A dragonfly’s wings allow it to perform all kinds of aerial acrobatics that are entrancing to observe. Given their size and speed, it’s a significant challenge to try to capture them in flight, though frequent readers of this blog know that I will sometimes spend extended periods of time trying to meet that challenge.

During a recent trip to Occoquan Bay National Wildlife Refuge, I noticed a dragonfly flying above my head. Its flight reminded me of eagles and hawks that I have seen gliding effortlessly on thermal updrafts. I couldn’t make out the flight pattern that it was following, but it repeatedly flew over me. Each time that it returned, I would point my camera almost straight up and eventually I was able to capture this shot of an easy-to-identify Black Saddlebags dragonfly (Tramea lacerata)—the pattern of black blotches on the wings are very distinctive.

Black Saddlebags

Later that same day I spotted a dragonfly making repeated patrols above the water. The dragonfly never seemed to rest or to perch, so I tried and tried to capture some shots of it as it zoomed on by me. Most of my shots were out of focus, but I like the one below. The choppy water in the background reminds me of the clouds that I will sometimes see when I look out of the window of an aircraft that has reached its cruising altitude. In my mind’s eye, I can imagine this dragonfly flying high in the sky, peacefully soaring above the clouds and the turbulence below it.

Prince Baskettail

© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved

 

Read Full Post »

Spangled trio

Posted in Butterflies, Flowers, Insects, Nature, Photography, tagged , , , , , , , , on August 23, 2017| 6 Comments »

A clump of what I think is Swamp Milkweed (Asclepias incarnata) seemed irresistible to a trio of Great Spangled Fritillary butterflies (Speyeria cybele) on Monday at Huntley Meadows Park. For a brief moment they coexisted peacefully, until one of them encroached into the territory of another and they all began to jostle each other for the prime spots.

I quickly snapped off a series of photos before the butterflies flew away. As is the case with almost any group, it was almost impossible to capture an image in which all of the subjects were more or less facing the camera and had interesting poses. It was roughly equivalent to trying to photograph a group of wiggly little children—single subjects seem easy by comparison.

Great Spangled Fritillary

© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved

Read Full Post »

Spider and Monarch

Posted in Arachnids, Butterflies, Insects, Macro Photography, Nature, Photography, spiders, tagged , , , , , , , , on August 21, 2017| 3 Comments »

The beautiful Monarch Butterfly (Danaus plexippus) is often featured in conservation efforts that focus on its dwindling numbers and shrinking habitat. It was therefore a little disconcerting to stumble upon a Monarch that had been ensnared in the web of a Black and Yellow Garden Spider (Argiope aurantia) during a visit this past weekend to Occoquan Bay National Wildlife Refuge.

I have no idea how long the butterfly had been in the web, but it appeared to be totally immobilized. Spiders like this one, known also as Yellow Garden Spiders or Writing Spiders, kill their prey by injecting venom and often wrap them up in web material for later consumption.

I considered cropping this image to focus more attention on the spider and the butterfly, but ultimately decided that I liked the context provided by the elements of the spider’s web and the murky, out-of-focus background.

 

spider and Monarch

© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved

 

 

Read Full Post »

Zebra Swallowtail

Posted in Butterflies, Insects, Nature, Photography, wildlife, tagged , , , , , , on August 20, 2017| 3 Comments »

One of the coolest looking butterflies in our area is the Zebra Swallowtail butterfly (Eurytides marcellus). In addition to having beautiful coloration, it has amazingly long “tails” that flutter when it is in flight. It is not a species that I see very often, so I will spend a lot of time chasing after one when I spot it, hoping, often in vain, that it will perch long enough for me to get a shot.

This Zebra Swallowtail, which I chased this past Friday at Occoquan Bay National Wildlife Refuge, was reasonably cooperative, though it refused to open its wings to give me a view of its entire wingspan.

Zebra Swallowtail

© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved

Read Full Post »

Spider and dragonfly

Posted in Arachnids, Dragonflies, dragonfly, Insects, Macro Photography, Nature, Photography, spiders, tagged , , , , , , , , , on August 19, 2017| Leave a Comment »

Predator or prey? Dragonflies are fearsome predators, but they can also become prey—it’s the whole circle of life cycle in the natural world.

This past Friday as I was walking around Occoquan Bay National Wildlife Refuge, I spotted the twisted body of a dragonfly suspended in the air against a backdrop of the sky. Instinctively I knew that there must be a spider web there, although it was not initially visible. The wing pattern of the dragonfly made it easy to identify as a Common Whitetail (Plathemis lydia).

As I got closer, I realized that a large spider was holding onto the body of the dragonfly. I am not totally certain of the spider identification, but it looks to me like it is a Spotted Orbweaver (Neoscona crucifera). Often when I approach a spider, it will scurry to the edge of its web, but this spider defiantly stayed in place—it looked like it was determined not to give up its prey.

As many readers know, I really like dragonflies, but spiders have to eat too. Undoubtedly this scenario plays out multiple times each day, but it is still a little unsettling to see it face-to-face.

spider and dragonfly

© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved

 

Read Full Post »

Dragonfly and ladybug

Posted in Dragonflies, dragonfly, Insects, Macro Photography, Nature, Photography, tagged , , , , , , , on August 19, 2017| 3 Comments »

Dragonflies have to eat too, but I was a little shocked when I stumbled upon this Needham’s Skimmer dragonfly (Libellula needhami) munching on a ladybug or two yesterday at Occoquan Bay National Wildlife Refuge in Woodbridge, Virginia. Although I know that dragonflies are fearsome predators, I guess that I am not used to thinking of ladybugs as prey—they are usually depicted as cute, which is why they are seen so often on children’s clothing and furnishings.

dragonfly and ladybug

© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved

Read Full Post »

Monarch and Queen Anne

Posted in Butterflies, Flowers, Insects, Nature, Photography, tagged , , , , , , , , on August 17, 2017| 3 Comments »

Although I tend to associate Monarch butterflies (Danaus plexippus) with milkweed, this Monarch was hungrily feeding on Queen Anne’s lace (Daucus carota) this past weekend at Huntley Meadows Park. I am not sure why, but I have seen significantly more Monarch butterflies this summer than in the past few years.

Monarch butterfly

© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved

Read Full Post »

Painted Lady in August

Posted in Butterflies, Insects, Macro Photography, Nature, Photography, wildlife, tagged , , , , , , on August 16, 2017| 4 Comments »

As I was exploring at Huntley Meadows Park this past weekend, I was thrilled to stumble upon this beautiful Painted Lady butterfly (Vanessa cardui), a species that I have not seen in several years. In the field, I couldn’t remember the differences between a Painted Lady and the similar-looking American Lady. Fortunately, there are plenty of resources on-line, including this helpful comparison page on bugguide.net that shows the differences between the two types. On the basis of the pattern of the eye spots, I concluded that this is almost certainly a Painted Lady.

Painted Lady

© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved

Read Full Post »

Not a bee

Posted in Flowers, Insects, Macro Photography, Nature, Photography, tagged , , , , , , , , , on August 15, 2017| 5 Comments »

Several years ago, when I first started getting serious about photography, I probably would have called the insect in the photo a bee. My choices back then were simple—a black and yellow insect was either a bee or a yellowjacket. Now that I know a whole lot more about insects, I can readily identify the insect as a hoverfly (also referred to as flower fly) from the Syrphidae family.

When I spotted the hoverfly yesterday, I was struck by the way that its colors matched almost perfect those of the black-eyed Susans (Rudbeckia hirta) that were growing in abundance at Jackson Miles Abbott Wetland Refuge.

hover fly

© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved

Read Full Post »

Robber Fly and Striped Horse Fly

Posted in Insects, Macro Photography, Nature, Photography, tagged , , , , , , , on August 14, 2017| 3 Comments »

When I first encountered two insects this past weekend at Huntley Meadows Park, I thought they were mating. Looking a little closer, I realized it was a robber fly and its prey, which, after some research, I conclude is probably a Striped Horse Fly (Tabanus lineola). In addition to its unusual eyes, check out the sharp mouth parts of the horse fly that are used, I believe, for biting. Ouch!

There is a whole family of robber flies, known as Asilidae, of varying sizes and shapes, including the Red-footed Cannibalfly that I have featured several times recently. This robber fly was considerably smaller than a Red-footed Cannibalfly, but has many of the same general characteristics. They both grasp their prey with their long legs and inject it with saliva that paralyzes the victim. The saliva eventually liquifies the insides of the prey and the robber fly sucks out the liquified material through its proboscis. I think that the robber fly in the photo was in the middle of that process when I spotted it.

Robber Fly

© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved

 

Read Full Post »

Common Wood Nymph butterfly

Posted in Butterflies, Insects, Nature, Photography, wildlife, tagged , , , , , , on August 13, 2017| 4 Comments »

One of the little woodland butterflies that I see only rarely is the Common Wood Nymph (Cercyonis pegala). I was therefore pretty excited when I spotted this beauty on Friday while it was perched on a tree at Huntley Meadows Park. The yellow patch is so distinctive that it was pretty easy for me to identify this one, unlike so many other woodland butterflies that are mostly brown with different patterns and colors of eye spots on their wings.

Common Wood Nymph

© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved

Read Full Post »

Demise of a hummingbird moth

Posted in Insects, Macro Photography, Nature, Photography, Summer, wildlife, tagged , , , , , , , on August 12, 2017| 3 Comments »

In the insect world, Red-footed Cannibalflies (Promachus rufipes) are fearsome predators. Yesterday I spotted one at Huntley Meadows Park in Alexandria, Virginia that appeared to be subduing a Hummingbird Clearwing Moth (Hemaris thysbe) that it had just captured.

What happens next? Wikipedia describes the tactics of a robber fly, the family to which the Red-footed Cannibalfly belongs, in these words:  “The fly attacks its prey by stabbing it with its short, strong proboscis  injecting the victim with saliva containing neurotoxic and proteolytic enzymes which very rapidly paralyze the victim and soon digest the insides; the fly then sucks the liquefied material through the proboscis.”

Yikes!

red-footed cannibalfly subdues hummingbird moth

© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved

Read Full Post »

Not a tug of war

Posted in Insects, Macro Photography, Nature, Photography, wildlife, tagged , , , , on August 7, 2017| 5 Comments »

Although it looks a bit like a tug of war, I think that these two Red-footed Cannibalflies (Promachus rufipes) actually were mating when I spotted them on Friday at Huntley Meadows Park. (Don’t ask me any anatomical questions–I am not sure how it works for them.)

This photo was taken from a pretty good distance away with my 150-600mm lens and is a little soft, but I thought I’d post it today as an accompaniment to my earlier macro shot of what I think is a female Red-footed Cannibalfly.

mating Red-footed Cannibalflies

© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved

Read Full Post »

Musings on a Red-footed Cannibalfly

Posted in Insects, Macro Photography, Nature, wildlife, tagged , , , , on August 7, 2017| 2 Comments »

A Red-footed Cannibalfly (Promachus rufipes) is one of the coolest and creepiest insects that you can encounter in the wild. A type of robber fly, Red-footed Cannibalflies usually feed on other insects, but they reportedly are capable of taking down a hummingbird. I spotted this “beauty” during a visit this past weekend to McKee-Beshers Wildlife Management Area in Poolesville, Maryland after a fellow photographer pointed it out to me.

Red-footed Cannibalflies are special to me for an unusual reason—a posting that I did about one in August 2013 has proven to be my most widely viewed normal blog posting over time. (I did have a couple of postings about the rescue of an injured bald eagle that received a huge boost in readership when linked in local media reports, but that spike was  a one-time occurrence and I tend to exclude those posts in my calculations.) The enduring popularity of that posting is a bit of a mystery to me. Yes, the subject is fascinating, but the accompanying photos are not really my best work.

Why then do I keep getting viewers for this posting? The posting, for example, had 512 views in 2015 and 612 views in 2016. During this year, there have already been 211 views, including 39 in August. I don’t know what kind of algorithms Google and the other search engines use in deciding how to rank order listings when searches are conducted, but somehow I have frequently made it onto the first page of the listings when a search is done for “red-footed cannibalfly.”

I receive offers all of the time for something called Search Engine Optimization (SEO) that promises me that, after I have paid a fee, my posting will rise higher on the Google results.  I am not sure that it would be possible for me to get any higher on the list than I already am—I think that my posting has on occasion been as high as fourth on the Google results.

I am a little amused that my name may have become associated with Red-footed Cannibalflies in the minds of some viewers after a Google search. On the whole, readership statistics remain a mystery to me. I can sometimes guess which of my postings will have a good number of viewers when originally posted, but I am clueless in figuring out which ones will have additional views after a couple of days have passed.

For better or for worse, my postings seem to have a life of their own. I never know when or how a viewer somewhere in the world may stumble across my words and images. Wow! How cool is that?

Red-footed Cannibalfly

© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved

Read Full Post »

Damselfly love

Posted in damselfly, Insects, Macro Photography, Nature, Photography, tagged , , , , , , , on August 3, 2017| 2 Comments »

Damselfly mating is, to say the least, unusual and acrobatic. Yes, I felt a little like a voyeur as I observed this pair of Ebony Jewelwing damselflies (Calopteryx maculata) on Monday at Huntley Meadows Park.

Did you notice the sideways heart that their bodies form during this process? Yeah, I am a bit of a romantic, even when it comes to mating insects in the wild. I would recommend, though, that you not try this position at home, but leave it to the professionally trained damselflies. You might otherwise require an unplanned visit to a chiropractor.

Ebony Jewelwing mating

© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved

Read Full Post »

You keep me hanging on

Posted in Dragonflies, dragonfly, Insects, Macro Photography, Nature, Photography, tagged , , , , , , , on August 2, 2017| 7 Comments »

Do you relax by hanging from a bar in the pull-up position? No, I don’t either, but this Mocha Emerald dragonfly (Somatochlora linearis) chose to do so on Monday when I spotted it at Huntley Meadows Park.

A couple of things really stand out whenever I am lucky enough to spot one of these beautiful dragonflies. Unlike many dragonflies, Mocha Emeralds don’t appear to like direct sunlight—they seem to hang out at small shaded streams, where the shadows and shade make photography difficult. Secondly, they often seem to hang vertically, which emphasizes their extraordinarily long slender bodies. Somehow they remind me of the super skinny young male models that many designers seem to favor, clothing them in garments that those of us with more normal physiques would never ever fit into—unlike those models, we have waists and hips.

Mocha Emerald

© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved

Read Full Post »

« Newer Posts - Older Posts »