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Archive for the ‘Insects’ Category

Needham’s Skimmer dragonfly

Posted in Dragonflies, dragonfly, Insects, Nature, Photography, spring, wildlife, tagged , , , , , , on May 31, 2025| 4 Comments »

I was delighted yesterday during a visit to Occoquan Bay National Wildlife Refuge to spot this beautiful female Needham’s Skimmer dragonfly (Libellula needhami), my first of the year. Later in the year, Needham’s Skimmers will become the most frequent dragonfly that I will encounter at this location but the dragonfly in the photo below was the only one that I saw yesterday.

Needham’s Skimmers are quite distinctive in appearance. Mature males are reddish-orange in color and stand out from the males of other species. Females and immature males have a body coloration that is shared with some other species, but the golden yellow veins at the leading edges of their wings distinguishes them from the others.

Needham's Skimmer

© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.

 

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Late-season Blue Corporal dragonflies

Posted in Dragonflies, dragonfly, Insects, Nature, Photography, spring, wildlife, tagged , , , , , , , on May 27, 2025| 4 Comments »

Blue Corporals (Ladona deplanata) are an early-season dragonfly—they appear in April and are usually gone by the beginning of June. I was therefore happy to spot some Blue Corporals in mid-May during a visit to Occoquan Bay National Wildlife Refuge. Blue Corporals perches frequently on low flat surfaces, often on the ground, so they are sometimes hard to see when the ground is cluttered, as it often is at this time of the year.

The dragonfly’s “corporal” stripes on his thorax are really visible in the first photos, so I could immediately identify his species. A short time later I was surprised when I saw a Blue Corporal land on a rusty bit of metal sticking out of the water at the edge of a small pond—I haven’t seen Blue Corporals flying over the water very often. I think this might have been a fence post or some kind of marker, because it appeared to be attached to some concrete.

I was absolutely delighted to be able to captures the texture of the rusty metal and the orange-blue complementary colors make this image particularly eye-catching.

Blue Corporal

Blue Corporal

© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.

 

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Spangled Skimmer dragonfly

Posted in Dragonflies, dragonfly, Insects, Nature, Photography, spring, wildlife, tagged , , , , , , , on May 26, 2025| 2 Comments »

There are quite a few blue dragonflies where I live, so I can’t always rely on color to tell them apart. Fortunately, it is relatively easy to identify a male Spangled Skimmer (Libellula cyanea), because it has a lighter-colored spot beside a black spot on the outer leading edge of each wing—as far as I know, no other dragonfly in our area has multi-colored stigmata, the technical name for those spots.

The stigmata are not there for decoration, but reportedly serve an important role in the flight of dragonflies. I do not really understand the physics of flight, but have read that the stigmata are heavier than the adjoining cells and help to stabilize the vibrations of the wings.

I spotted this male Spangled Skimmer as he was perched in the vegetation at the edge of a small pond at Shrine Mont, an Episcopal Church retreat center, in Orkney Springs, Virginia. Most often I try to get side views of dragonflies in order to get most of the body in focus, but in this case I deliberately tried to focus on the dragonfly’s large, compound eyes, knowing that much of the body would fall out of focus. This allows the viewer’s attention to be drawn immediately to those eyes.

I encourage you to click on the image to get a closer look at the dragonfly’s amazing eyes.

Spangled Skimmer

© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.

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More flying Common Baskettails

Posted in Dragonflies, dragonfly, Insects, Nature, Photography, spring, wildlife, tagged , , , , , , on May 24, 2025| 4 Comments »

I was away in the mountains last weekend at a church retreat at Shrine Mont, and Episcopal retreat center in Orkney Springs, Virginia. We had a wonderful time of rest, relaxation, and rejuvenation in a really beautiful setting.

There was a small pond at the site where I spotted a number of dragonflies, including some Common Baskettails (Epitheca cynosura) that were patrolling back and forth over the surface of the water. I felt compelled to try to capture images of these dragonflies and had a modest amount of success, as you can see in the photos below. I ended up focusing manually most of the time, because the backgrounds were often cluttered and the focus system had trouble acquiring the dragonflies.

I really like the way that this little series shows the varied backgrounds at the pond. I was also quite happy to focus well enough on the dragonflies that the backgrounds were blurred and non-distracting. In case you are curious, these Common Baskettails were relatively cooperative, hovering a bit over the water and allowing me time to focus on them.

Common Baskettail

Common Baskettail

Common Baskettail

© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.

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Honey Bee and False Indigo

Posted in Bees, Insects, Macro Photography, Nature, Photography, spring, wildlife, tagged , , , , , , , , on May 16, 2025| 2 Comments »

The colors of the False Indigo Bushes (Amorpha fruticosa) were spectacular on Monday at Occoquan Bay National Wildlife Refuge, attracting my attention as well as that of an energetic honey bee (g. Apis) whose pollen sacs were already filled to bulging. I was initially paying so much attention to focusing on the moving bee that I did not realize that my shutter speed had dropped to 1/400—I was in aperture priority mode. The first photo was a “happy accident: in which the bee’s face was in focus, but its rapidly-moving wings were a blur.

In the second shot, the bee had landed and was crawling all around the stalks of the false indigo bush. I am really happy with my snapshot of that action that captured the color and movement of my brief encounter with the honey bee.

honey bee and false indigo bush

honey bee and false indigo bush

© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.

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Calico Pennant dragonflies

Posted in Dragonflies, dragonfly, Insects, Nature, Photography, spring, wildlife, tagged , , , , , , , on May 15, 2025| 4 Comments »

Later in the season I can rely on coloration to distinguish between male and female Calico Pennant  dragonflies (Celithemis elisa)—the bodies of males are red and those of females are yellow. When they first emerge, however, immature males are yellow, so you have to look really closely at a given individual to determine its gender.

The terminal appendages of the dragonfly in the second photo indicate to me that it is a male, despite the fact that its body is yellow. The one in the first photo is also an immature male Calico Pennant dragonfly that is just beginning to change from yellow to red. I love the way that he is perched on the very tip of the flimsy vegetation stalk, holding tightly to it with all of his little legs.

I spotted these two dragonflies on 12 May at Occoquan Bay National Wildlife Refuge, my first sightings of this colorful dragonfly species of the year. There is something really special about the patterned wings of both genders of Calico Pennants and when viewed from the right angle, as in the second photo, the pattern on their bodies look like a series of hearts.

Calico Pennant

Calico Pennant

© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.

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Big Bluet damselfly (female)

Posted in damselfly, Insects, Macro Photography, Nature, Photography, spring, wildlife, tagged , , , , , , , on May 14, 2025| Leave a Comment »

During a visit on Monday to Occoquan Bay National Wildlife Refuge, I noted that many of the summer dragonfly and damselflies are starting to appear. I was particularly delighted to spot several Big Bluet damselflies (Enallagma durum). As their name suggests, Big Bluets are relatively large damselflies, with an overall length of about 1.7 inches (43 mm).

Big Bluets tend to active and a bit skittish, so it’s a bit tough to get a decent shot of one, especially when I am shooting with a zoom lens. The auto-focus of my Tamron 18-400mm zoom often has trouble focusing on a damselfly, because their bodies are so thin and they clasp their wings together over their bodies. Consequently, I frequently end up focusing manually and it is an advantage with this lens that the minimum focusing distance is 17.7 inches (45 cm), so I can get pretty close to my subject.

I was delighted to be able to capture this beautiful image of a female Big Bluet. My focusing was spot on and the background blurred out nicely. If you look closely, you may notice that the depth of field, i.e. what was in focus, was so shallow that much of the stalk of vegetation on which the damselfly was perched was out of focus. In case you are curious, I tried to position myself so that I was on a parallel plane with the damselfly’s body to get as much of it in sharp focus as possible.

One interesting factual tidbits about Female Big Bluets is that, like several other damselfly species, they come in two different color variants. This one is the blue form and there is also an olive form. What that means is that I cannot rely exclusively on the color of the damselfly to determine its species and must also look at other features like the shapes of the eyespots and markings on the terminal appendages.

Big Bluet

© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.

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Black Swallowtail in May

Posted in Butterflies, Insects, Nature, Photography, spring, wildlife, tagged , , , , , , on May 9, 2025| 2 Comments »

Although it is relatively early in the butterfly season, this beautiful Black Swallowtail (Papilio polyxenes) that I spotted on Wednesday at Occoquan Bay National Wildlife Refuge was already beginning to show signs of the wear and tear of everyday life, with damage to its wings and body and one missing “tail.” I don’t know what caused the damage to the butterfly’s wings, but suspect that it might have been attacks by predators or collisions with thorns or other sharp vegetation.

Black Swallowtail

Black Swallowtail

© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.

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Forktail damselflies

Posted in damselfly, Insects, Nature, Photography, spring, wildlife, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , on May 8, 2025| 3 Comments »

It has taken a little while, but I am starting to see damselflies during my searches for dragonflies. As many of you know, damselflies and dragonflies are “cousins” in the sense that they are both members of the order Odonata. Generally speaking, dragonflies have thicker, shorter bodies and hold their wings out to the sides when resting, while damselflies are slender with wings often folded together. The eyes of dragonflies often touch each other, while those of damselflies tend to be more widely separated.

The first photo below shows a Fragile Forktail damselfly (Ischnura posita), a very common species where I live. The interrupted shoulder stripes look like exclamation marks, which makes them pretty easy to identify.  The second photo shows what I am pretty certain is a female Eastern Forktail damselfly (Ischnura verticalis). Female damselflies of a number of species are similar in appearance, so I am a bit less confident that I have correctly identified this individual.

More damselflies will continue to appear as I shift my attention almost exclusively from birds to insects. As a result of recent rains, the trees in my area are now covered with leaves, which means that I am increasingly having trouble seeing the birds that I can hear singing.

Fragile Forktail

Eastern Forktail

© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.

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Another Stream Cruiser

Posted in Dragonflies, dragonfly, Insects, Nature, Photography, spring, wildlife, tagged , , , , , , on May 6, 2025| Leave a Comment »

How do you capture a shot of a dragonfly perched at an angle on a fallen branch? That was my dilemma last week at Accotink Bay Wildlife Refuge when I caught a view of a flying dragonfly out of the corner of my eye and saw it land.

My first reaction was to stop and then to slowly bring my camera up to my eye to capture a shot before the dragonfly flew away. I was still a good distance away from the dragonfly but thanks to my telephoto lens I could see that it was a Stream Cruiser dragonfly (Didymops transversa). The final photo shows my initial view of the dragonfly. It is a little hard to tell, but the fallen branch was not very far off of the ground.

Stream Cruisers are long and skinny and a little tough to fit into a photo taken in landscape mode. I moved closer to the dragonfly, knelt down, and circled around a bit to capture the middle image. By getting closer to my subject and altering my shooting angle, I was able to blur out the background better. I still was not quite satisfied with the photo, though, because it conveyed the mistaken impression that the cruiser was perching horizontally.

I circled around some more and decided to take some shots in portrait mode. I held my camera at an angle, trying to match the angle at which the dragonfly was perched, in order to have its entire body in focus. This first shot below, one of the last ones I took, was my favorite. The background is blurred and almost all of the details on the cruiser are pretty sharp.

I realize that the image makes it look like the cruiser was hanging perfectly vertically, which was not exactly true, but the image looks pretty natural to me. Wildlife photographers make a whole series of creative choices that help them to create images that reflect their personal vision of  “reality” in front of their cameras, a kind of subjective reality.

One of my favorite quotations about photography comes from noted photographer Dorothea Lange, who said, “The camera is an instrument that teaches people how to see without a camera.” My photos provide some insight into the way that I view the world. Welcome to my world!

Stream Cruiser

Stream Cruiser

Stream Cruiser

© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.

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Blue Corporal dragonfly (male)

Posted in Dragonflies, dragonfly, Insects, Nature, Photography, spring, wildlife, tagged , , , , , , on May 5, 2025| Leave a Comment »

I am finally starting to see some male Blue Corporal dragonflies (Ladona deplanata) that are blue in color. In mid-April I started seeing Blue Corporals, but the males that I spotted at that time were all immature, like the one in the second photo below, and shared the coloration of females of the species.

The dragonfly in the first photo is a mature male. I spotted it during a recent hike along a creek in Prince William County. When you compare its feature to those of the immature male, you can see that the adult coloration is definitely bluer and the “shoulder” stripes on its thorax are a bit faded.

I really like the head-on angle that I used to photograph the Blue Corporal in the first photo. Technically only a small portion of the dragonfly is in sharp focus when you shoot from this angle, the eye-to-eye direct contact works well and draws in the viewer. As you can probably tell, I took this from a low angle, which helped to draw attention to the dragonfly’s interesting pose and to separate the subject from the somewhat cluttered background.

Blue Corporal

Blue Corporal

© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.

 

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Common Whitetail dragonflies

Posted in Dragonflies, dragonfly, Insects, Nature, Photography, spring, wildlife, tagged , , , , , , , , , , on May 4, 2025| 2 Comments »

Common Whitetails (Plathemis lydia) can be found almost everywhere and are among the first dragonflies to appear in the spring and the last to survive in the fall. I nonetheless enjoy trying to capture creative images of them, like these two that I spotted this past week.

How do wildlife photographers choose their subjects? Some of them are attracted almost exclusively to rare and/or exotic species and are always looking for something new to photograph. Their mentality is close to those of many birders, who keep “life lists” of all the birds they have seen and are always lookin got add another one to the “list.”

Other photographers, like me, are content to photograph a more limited selection of subjects over and over again, hoping to capture something new and different, finding the extraordinary in the ordinary. The first photo is one such example—I love the prominent specular highlights in the image and the unusual pose of this female Common Whitetail with one of her legs extended.

At other times, I am simply trying to compose an image creatively, as in the second photo below. There is nothing super special about this shot of a male Common Whitetail, but I tried to add some visual interest by including some of the vegetation at the base of its perch and a portion of the lily pads in the distance. It is not a prize-winner by any standards, but I like the overall “feel” of the pleasant little image.

Female Common Whitetail

Male Common Whitetail

© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.

 

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Common Baskettail dragonfly in flight

Posted in Dragonflies, dragonfly, Insects, Nature, Photography, spring, wildlife, tagged , , , , , , , on May 1, 2025| 3 Comments »

What is the most difficult subject that you try to photograph? Quite often my biggest concern is the composition of a photograph, i.e. can I capture a shot that will be visually pleasing. Sometimes that means waiting for a particular expression or wing position or moment of action, but if I am patient enough, I have a pretty good chance of getting some decent shots.

Each year, though, I try try to challenge myself to capture some “impossible shots” of dragonflies in flight. Of course, such shots are not actually impossible, but they are really difficult to pull off. Some really high-end modern mirrorless cameras have focusing systems that are so good that they can lock focus on a moving dragonfly, but I mostly use cameras with technology that is over a decade old. Usually I will try to track a dragonfly through the viewfinder of my camera and focus on it manually. It’s a little easier when the dragonfly is flying a somewhat predictable path over the water and ideally hovering a bit.

This past Monday I had my first experience this season with in-flight photography when I spotted several Common Baskettail dragonflies (Epitheca cynosura) patrolling over the water of a small pond at Occoquan Regional Park. I managed to get a decent number of shots in frame, but most of them were out of focus—clearly I am a little rusty and need more practice to regain the necessary hand-to-eye coordination. The first shot below is cropped quite a bit, but is one of my best shots from my little session.

Common Baskettail dragonflies, which are only about 1.6 inches (41 mm) in length, spend a lot of their time in the air, but on that day I was fortunate when one of them decided to take a break and perched for a few moments low in the nearby vegetation. The second and third shots below provide a good side view of this beautiful little dragonfly, including its distinctive terminal appendages (the tip of its “tail”).

It’s a fun challenge for my patience and skills as a photographer to attempt to capture shots of dragonflies in flight and luck certainly plays a big part in achieving any success whatsoever. I can just about guarantee that I will be featuring a few more in-flight dragonfly photos in the upcoming months as the insects and I become more active outdoors.

Common Baskettail

Common Baskettail

Common Baskettail

© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.

 

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Perching Swamp Darner dragonfly

Posted in Dragonflies, dragonfly, Insects, Nature, Photography, spring, wildlife, tagged , , , , , , , on April 29, 2025| 3 Comments »

Yesterday I decided to visit Occoquan Regional Park in nearby Lorton, Virginia to search for some dragonflies. Some of you know that the place that I visit most frequently is Occoquan Bay National Wildlife Refuge, so you may be a little confused, because they both have “Occoquan” in their names. The Wildlife Refuge is run by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, whereas the Regional Park is run by Fairfax County.

The locations are only a few miles apart, but their habitats are different enough that I tend to see some different dragonfly species at each spot. I was hoping to see some Spiketail dragonflies, but came up empty-handed. As I was nearing the end of my adventure, however, a large dragonfly flew overhead. I did not get a very good look at it, but its size, shape, and flight profile suggested to me that it was from the Darner family.

A short while later, I spotted another large dragonfly (possibly the same one) flying around some vegetation and was thrilled when it landed. At the precise moment that it landed, my vision was partially blocked by some branches, but I had a good idea of where I hoped the dragonfly was perched. I moved a few steps slowly and silent to get an unobstructed view of the dragonfly.

I held my breath when I saw that it was a Swamp Darner (Epiaeschna heros), the largest dragonfly in my area at about 3.5 inches (89 mm) in length. Wow! Judging from its terminal appendages (the tip of the “tail”), I am pretty sure that this is a female. I took the second photo below initially, afraid to move closer for fear of spooking the dragonfly.

I then stepped a little closer and moved up and down as I tried to get a better shot. My options were limited, because the dragonfly was perched about 10 feet up (about 3 meters) and was surrounded by intertwined vines and branches. I think that the first shot below is a marginal improvement on my first shot and encourage you to click on it to get a better look at the Swamp Darners beautiful markings, including its spectacular eyes.

I suspect that this park will be in my regular rotation of places to visit as additional dragonfly species continue to emerge.

Swamp Darner

Swamp Darner

© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.

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Butterfly in the forest

Posted in Butterflies, Insects, Nature, Photography, spring, wildlife, tagged , , , , , , on April 27, 2025| 4 Comments »

This Eastern Tiger Swallowtail butterfly (Papilio glaucus) was sipping from a wet area at the edge of a forest creek (and maybe ingesting other nutrients) when I photographed it on 23 April at Prince William Forest Park in Triangle,Virginia. I used to associate this species of butterfly with gardens, because that is where I tended to spot them in the past. However, over the last few years, I have spent a lot of time in the spring in forested areas and have spotted Eastern Tiger Swallowtails regularly there, both individually and in small groups.
Check out my 2021 posting called “A Kaleidoscope of butterflies” to see a photograph of Eastern Tiger Swallowtails “puddling,” i.e. congregating together on wet sand and mud to drink water and extract minerals from puddles.
Eastern Tiger Swallowtail
© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.

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Common Baskettail in late April

Posted in Dragonflies, dragonfly, Insects, Nature, Photography, wildlife, tagged , , , , , on April 26, 2025| 3 Comments »

I am not sure that I can say that dragonfly activity is at a peak yet, but I did see a whole lot more dragonflies this past Wednesday in Prince William County than in previous trips there earlier in April.  I was particularly delighted to spot some Common Baskettail dragonflies (Epitheca cynosura) that were perched—quite often I have seen them in the past only when they were flying.

The Common Baskettail in the first photo seems to be a mature male. I love the way that I was able to capture an image that shows the way that it hangs when perching and the distinctive terminal appendages that always remind me of the handles of some pliers that are wrapped in plastic.

The dragonfly in the second photo looks to be a recently emerged Common Baskettail. Its eyes are still pale and its wings are very clear and are probably not fully hardened yet.

I got a late start this year in finding spring dragonflies, but feel that I have more or less caught up as we near the end of April, though there are still some spring species that I have not yet seen.

Common Baskettail

Common Baskettail

© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.

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Stream Cruiser dragonflies

Posted in Dragonflies, dragonfly, Insects, Nature, Photography, spring, wildlife, tagged , , , , , on April 25, 2025| 1 Comment »

Dragonfly season has definitely begun. I spotted several Stream Cruiser dragonflies (Didymops transversa) on Wednesday this week while I was exploring several creeks in Prince William Forest Park here in Virginia. Stream Cruisers are pretty easy to identify, with a single stripe on their thoraxes, pale-colored tips of their abdomens, and long, thin legs. They tend to perch at an angle or to hang vertically.

Stream Cruisers are one of the earliest dragonfly species to appear each spring and it was exciting to spot them. They tend to be habitat specialists and are generally found near forest streams with good flow and rocks.

Stream Cruiser

Stream Cruiser

Stream Cruiser

© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.

 

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Ashy Clubtails in April

Posted in Dragonflies, dragonfly, Insects, Nature, Photography, spring, wildlife, tagged , , , , , on April 24, 2025| Leave a Comment »

The weather has warmed up considerably and I have started to see many of the spring dragonflies and even some of those that will remain with us through the summer. Last Friday I spotted numerous Ashy Clubtail dragonflies (Phanogomphus lividus), many of which appeared to have emerged recently, judging from their very shiny wings and pale coloration, as you can see in the first photo. Getting shots of them was tough, because they perch on the ground in the vegetation, are only about 2 inches in length (50 mm), and are often very skittish.

Kevin Munroe described well the challenges of finding early spring dragonflies in his wonderful Dragonflies of Northern Virginia website, “Searching for dragonflies in spring is a wholly different endeavor than finding them in July and August. Most summer dragonflies spend their time at sunny ponds or open fields, and engage in showy displays and aerial battles – they are, in a word, visible. The majority belong to the showy and successful skimmer family, along with a few darners and emeralds. The spring dragonfly community is more diverse, and has a very different M.O. They are for the most part, habitat specialists, with low population numbers, secretive habits, and denizens of woodland streams, not sunny ponds. Spiketails, Petaltails, Clubtails, Darners and Emeralds are all out and about in spring. To find these species in April and May, one must spend many hours searching forest edges, woodland clearings, and the banks of springs, streams and creeks.”

In fact, I photographed these Ashy Clubtails in the vegetation near a creek in Prince William County and I can testify to the fact that I walked about for hours searching for them. I am pretty happy with the photos that I was able to take. I especially like the second photo that has some really cool shadows that seem to magnify the number of legs and wings of the dragonfly.

The final two photos were taken only a few seconds apart and show the wings in very different positions. The penultimate photo shows the wings in a typical outstretched pose, while the final photo shows the wings clasped together over the dragonfly’s body, similar to the way that damselflies hold their wings when perched. In my experience recently emerged dragonflies sometimes flex their wings this way as fluid is pumped into the wings and the wings are hardening.

Ashy Clubtail

Ashy Clubtail

Ashy Clubtail

Ashy Clubtail

© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.

 

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Henry’s Elfin butterfly

Posted in Butterflies, Insects, Nature, Photography, spring, wildlife, tagged , , , , , , on April 22, 2025| Leave a Comment »

When this little butterfly flew by me last Friday at Prince William Forest Park, it looked like a nondescript brown moth. Fortunately it landed on some nearby vegetation and I was able to zoom in on it. Wow—what an amazing variety of colors, textures, and markings on this tiny butterfly. I was able to determine that it was a Henry’s Elfin butterfly (Callophrys henrici).

I was pretty sure that I had never seen a butterfly like this until I searched my blog and discovered that I had seen one last spring on almost the same date. I don’t think that I’m losing my memory yet, but I keep filling my head with so much information that it is almost inevitable that I will forget some things.

There is something so whimsical about the word “elfin” that I can’t help but smile whenever I use it. I love the idea of magical creatures like elves and nymphs, drawn from the works of Shakespeare or perhaps from Tolkien’s Lord of the Rings.  These creatures blend in so well with their surroundings that you have to look carefully to spot them and I should warn you that you may become blissfully enchanted by them.

Henry's Elfin

© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.

 

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Uhler’s Sundragon at last

Posted in Dragonflies, dragonfly, Insects, Nature, Photography, spring, wildlife, tagged , , , , , on April 21, 2025| 4 Comments »

I was delighted to finally spot my first Uhler’s Sundragon (Helocordulia uhleri) of the year on 18 April near a small pond in Prince William County, Virginia. I went searching for these dragonflies, which are usually the first ones I see in the spring, on several occasions in late March and early April, but came up empty-handed. Uhler’s Sundragons are usually around for only about a month, soI was fearful that I might miss them this season.

I have a pretty good idea of the type of habitat that this early season dragonfly prefers and tend to begin my searches by returning to spots where I have photographed them in the past and then begin to widen my search. Quite often this means that I spend a lot of time walking and watching, trying to remain alert to any movement in the air or on the ground.

As you can see in the first photo, Uhler’s Sundragons often hang from a perch, rather than perch horizontally, which makes it a little easier to get a detailed shot. When the dragonfly perches low to the ground, as in the second photo when it hung from the stem of a fallen leaf, I end up doing some improvised acrobatics to capture an image.

Uhler's Sundragon

Uhler's Sundragon

© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.

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Happy Easter 2025

Posted in Butterflies, Easter, Insects, Nature, Photography, wildlife, tagged , , , , , , , , on April 20, 2025| 13 Comments »

Happy Easter to friends and family who are celebrating today. This past week has been a whirlwind of activity and services for me at my church as we have commemorated Christ’s last days, beginning with his entry into Jerusalem on Palm Sunday, through his last supper, and finally his crucifixion and burial. Today we celebrate Jesus’s triumph over death with a joyous Easter service.

I photographed this beautiful little Pearl Crescent butterfly (Phyciodes tharos) during a recent visit to Occoquan Bay National Wildlife Refuge. Butterflies have always been special for me as symbols of the amazing transformations that can take place in this world, even when the situation seems hopeless and sad.

I offer my prayers for all of you, believers and non-believers alike, that your lives will be full of joy, hope, and peace.

Christ is risen!

Pearl Crescent

© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.

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Falcate Orangetip butterfly

Posted in Butterflies, Insects, Nature, Photography, wildlife, tagged , , , , , , on April 19, 2025| 5 Comments »

I was delighted to spot this Falcate Orangetip butterfly (Anthocharis midea) on 15 April at Occoquan Bay National Wildlife Refuge. The butterfly is somewhat nondescript when its wings are closed, but spectacular when they open, revealing the orange tips for which the species is named.

I encourage you to click on the second image to get a closer look at the beautiful details of this tiny butterfly, including its speckled gray eyes and wonderfully marbled wings.

Falcate Orangetip butterfly

Falcate Orangetip butterfly

© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.

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Blue Corporal—first dragonfly of 2025

Posted in Dragonflies, dragonfly, Insects, Nature, Photography, spring, wildlife, tagged , , , , , , , , on April 18, 2025| 5 Comments »

I am a little late in finding my first dragonflies of 2025, but on Wednesday (15 April) I finally spotted some Blue Corporals (Ladona deplanata) at Occoquan Bay National Wildlife Refuge. As an added bonus, the first image also shows a metallic-green Six-spotted Tiger Beetle (Cicindela sexguttata) that was crawling past the dragonfly.

Blue Corporals, one of the first dragonflies to emerge in the spring, are relatively easy to identify because they have two stripes of their shoulders—two stripes is the traditional marking for the rank of corporal in the armed forces. When they first emerge, males and females have similar colorations, but the males turn blue as they mature. Judging from the shape of their terminal appendages, I believe that the dragonflies in the first two images are females and the one in the final photo is an immature male.

Blue Corporal

Blue Corporal

Blue Corporal

© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.

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Bee Fly in April

Posted in Bees, Insects, Nature, Photography, spring, wildlife, tagged , , , , , , on April 15, 2025| 1 Comment »

Is it a bee? Is it a fly? Well, it has a fuzzy body like a bumblebee and has a long, rigid proboscis that looks like a stinger, but its patterned wings and long legs look more like those of a fly. In actuality, it is a Greater Bee Fly (Bombylius major), a parasitic bee mimic that is one of the earliest spring pollinators of wildflowers. I photographed this bee fly last week at Occoquan Bay National Wildlife Refuge.

I was quite happy to be able to capture so many of the details of this curious creature, including its long proboscis, spindly legs, patterned wings, and fuzzy body. In case you are curious, the body of one of these bee flies is about six-tenths of an inch (15mm) in length and its wing span is about one inch (25mm). I recommend that you double-click on the image to get a better look at the little details of this bee fly.

If you would like to learn more about these fascinating little bee flies, including their parasitic behavior, check out this article on the US Forest Service website by Beatriz Moisset entitled “A Pollinator with a Bad Reputation.”

Bee Fly

© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.

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Zebra Swallowtail in April

Posted in Butterflies, Insects, Nature, Photography, spring, wildlife, tagged , , , , , , on April 14, 2025| 4 Comments »

I was absolutely thrilled last week to spot this Zebra Swallowtail butterfly (Eurytides marcellus) at Occoquan Bay National Wildlife Refuge. Zebra Swallowtails overwinter winter in the chrysalis (cocoon) stage before emerging as adult butterflies in the spring. A second brood is born later in the year and they are the ones that lay the eggs that develop into the caterpillars that will enter into cocoons and hibernate throughout the winter.

I love the beautiful colors of this butterfly, with its zebra-like stripes and pops of red and blue—I often think of the Zebra Swallowtail as a “patriotic” butterfly, because of its red, white, and blur coloration..

Zebra Swallowtail

© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.

 

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Cabbage White and dandelion

Posted in Butterflies, Insects, Nature, Photography, spring, wildlife, tagged , , , , , , on April 11, 2025| 8 Comments »

I was surprised and delighted to spot this Cabbage White butterfly (Pieris rapae) as it was feeding on a newly sprouted dandelion on Tuesday at Occoquan Bay National Wildlife Refuge. I love chasing these elusive little butterflies that I used to think were moths.

Gardeners consider Cabbage Whites to be pests, because their caterpillars can do significant damage to plants, including cabbage, broccoli, cauliflower, and collard greens, but I find them to be beautiful. In that respect I guess I am a kind of dreamer who prefers to focus more on form than on function.

Cabbage White

© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.

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Still around…

Posted in Autumn, Dragonflies, dragonfly, Insects, Nature, Photography, wildlife, tagged , , , , , , , on November 21, 2024| 3 Comments »

I was delighted on Monday to spot multiple Autumn Meadowhawk dragonflies (Sympetrum vicinum) at Occoquan Bay National Wildlife Refuge. During the past couple of weeks I saw a few female Autumn Meadowhawks, but until this week I had not photographed a single male—I think that all of the dragonflies that I spotted that day were males. Females are mostly brown with touches of red, while the bodies of males are mostly red, as you can see in the photo below.

Autumn Meadowhawks are only about 1.2 inches (30 mm) in length, so they are difficult to spot, despite their bright coloration. At this time of the year when fallen leaves litter the ground, they tend to blend in pretty well with their surroundings.

I was using my Tamron 150-600mm lens with a monopod, my preferred combination for photographing birds, so it was a challenge to focus on such tiny subjects as dragonflies. I was persistent, however, and was successful in capturing some pretty detailed shots of them.

Autumn Meadowhawk

© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.

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Variegated Fritillary butterfly

Posted in Autumn, Butterflies, Insects, Nature, Photography, wildlife, tagged , , , , , , on November 18, 2024| 2 Comments »

The number of butterflies continues to dwindle, so I was thrilled to spot this pretty little Variegated Fritillary butterfly (Euptoieta claudia) last Tuesday at Occoquan Bay National Wildlife Refuge. The weather has gotten cooler and it won’t be long before below freezing temperatures arrive, so I will be out chasing these last summer survivors until none remain.

Variegated Fritillary

© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.

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Common Buckeye in November

Posted in Autumn, Butterflies, Insects, Nature, Photography, wildlife, tagged , , , , , , on November 13, 2024| 3 Comments »

By mid-November most butterflies have disappeared in my area as the weather has cooled off. One notable exception, however, has been the Common Buckeye (Junonia coenia). I was delighted to spot numerous Common Buckeyes last week at Occoquan Bay National Wildlife Refuge.

The markings on these little butterflies are incredibly beautiful and I was happy to be able to capture some of that beauty in the photo below.

Common Buckeye

© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.

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Dragonflies in November

Posted in Autumn, Dragonflies, dragonfly, Insects, Nature, Photography, wildlife, tagged , , , , , , on November 11, 2024| 6 Comments »

After a month away on a car road trip, I finally returned home last week. On Friday I ventured out to Occoquan Bay National Wildlife Refuge to see if I could find any dragonflies. It is pretty late in the season for most dragonfly species, but I was optimistic that I might be able to find some Autumn Meadowhawks (Sympetrum vicinum) that are almost always the final dragonflies to disappear in late autumn.

Happily I was able to spot a half-dozen or so Autumn Meadowhawk dragonflies, although I was able to capture images of only a few of them. The female in the first photo was quite cooperative and landed on a colorful fallen leaf. The dragonfly in the second photo is also a female and I am pretty sure that it too is an Autumn Meadowhawk—there is a slight chance that it could be a Blue-faced Meadowhawk (Sympetrum ambiguum), though it would be unusual to see that species so late in the season.

The final image is a long distance shot of another female Autumn Meadowhawk that is almost perfectly camouflaged. You will need to look very carefully at the upper edge of the leaf in order to spot the little dragonfly. I watched it land at that spot, but actually could not see the dragonfly when I took this shot. I will probably be out again with my camera later this week diligently searching for more dragonflies, the final survivors of the 2024 dragonfly season.

Happy Veterans Day to all those who have served or are continuing to serve in the Armed Forces of the United States. As someone who served for 20 years in the U.S. Army, this day is a special one for me. It seems a bit trite to say “Thank you for your service,” but those words reflect my heartfelt thanks to those men and women who voluntarily defend our freedoms.

In other parts of the world this day is celebrated as Armistice Day (or Remembrance Day) and I remember well being in Paris, France on this day several times and observing the impressive ceremonies on the Champs-Élysées to commemorate the armistice that ended World War I. Some thought at the time that it would be the “war to end all wars,” but, alas, those hopes proved to be unfounded.

Autumn Meadowhawk

Autumn Meadowhawk

Autumn Meadowhawk

© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.

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Blue-faced Meadowhawks in October

Posted in Autumn, Dragonflies, dragonfly, Insects, Nature, Photography, wildlife, tagged , , , , , , , on October 6, 2024| 5 Comments »

I was delighted on Thursday to encounter my first Blue-faced Meadowhawk dragonfly (Sympetrum ambiguum) of the season at Occoquan Bay National Wildlife Refuge. A few minutes later I got a peek at a pair of mating Blue-faced Meadowhawks—spring is not the only season for love.

Blue-faced Meadowhawks are one of the prettiest dragonfly species that I have ever encountered. I love the contrast between their turquoise faces and their bright red bodies. Generally I spot them in the early autumn, just as most of the other dragonfly species are starting to disappear.

Blue-faced Meadowhawks will be around for a bit longer and then their “cousins,” the Autumn Meadowhawks will end up as the last remaining dragonflies of the season. In some years I have seen Autumn Meadowhawks as late as mid-December and a fellow photographer spotted one in early January one year. Autumn Meadowhawks also have red bodies, but have brown eyes.

Blue-faced Meadowhawk

Blue-faced Meadowhawk

© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.

 

 

 

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