Each fall I face the same dilemma—I see the photos of other photographers indicating that migrating warblers are present in our area, but I have trouble spotting these elusive little birds. Part of the problem is that leaves are still mostly on the trees and I can often hear birds that remain invisible in the foliage. The other main problem is that many birds are now sporting their duller fall plumage, so they do not stand out as much as during the spring migration, when their breeding plumage is much brighter.
Given my normal experience, I was thrilled to spot several Palm Warblers (Setophaga palmarum) and Yellow-rumped Warblers (Setophaga coronata) during visits to Occoquan Bay National Wildlife Refuge earlier this week. The birds in the first two photos, I believe, are Palm Warblers, a relatively common warbler species that likes to poke around a lot on the ground.
The final two photos show Yellow-rumped Warblers, which are the most common warbler species in my area. In both of the photos you can see the yellow patch of feathers on the “rump” of the bird.
In a month or so I may switch over to my longest lens, a Tamron 150-600mm zoom lens, which will allow me to zoom in a little more on these tiny birds, but for now I am sticking with my Tamron 18-400mm lens, a more versatile lens that lets me get photos of butterflies and dragonflies as well as of birds. (The problem with the longer lens is that it has a minimum focusing distance of almost 9 feet (2.7 meters) and it is sometimes hard to focus on small subjects from that far away.)
I was thrilled to spot this handsome Russet-tipped Clubtail dragonfly (Stylurus plagiatus) last Wednesday at Jackson Miles Abbott Wetland Refuge. I love the way that the dragonfly was clinging to the leaf, looking almost like it was peeping over the edge.
Russet-tipped Clubtails are a late season species and are seen most often in August and September in my area. Unlike many of the dragonflies that I see regularly that prefer pole-like perches or perch flat on the ground, Russet-tipped Clubtails like to hang from the leaves of vegetation at an angle or almost vertically—members of the genus Stylurus are sometimes called “Hanging Clubtails.”
As I prepared to take a step closer to a pond last Friday at Occoquan Bay National Wildlife Refuge, I suddenly saw that there was a large snake in the vegetation right where my foot was about to land. My mind quickly processed the information and came to the conclusion that it was probably “only” a Northern Water Snake (Nerodia sipedon), a non-poisonous snake that is quite common where I live.
Not wanting to disturb the snake, I backed off a little and captured this shot of the snake that was pretty well hidden in the vegetation. My mission completed, I continued on down the trail and the snake was able to resume its basking in the warmth of the autumn sunlight.
As I was exploring Occoquan Bay National Wildlife Refuge this past Friday, I spotted some colorful red and black bugs. I had no idea what they were, but I happened to be walking with a fellow dragonfly enthusiast and he told me that they were Florida Predatory Stink Bugs (Euthyrynchus floridanus).
Unlike most other stink bugs that feed on plants, Florida Predatory Stink Bugs feed on insects that attack plants and are therefore considered to be beneficial. According to the North Carolina Extension website, “Immature Euthyrhynchus have a strong tendency to aggregate, and they even attack larger prey in concert. Apparently, aggregation behavior allows them to successfully attack prey too large to be subdued by a single nymph. Sometimes adults aggregate with nymphs, although when times get hard, these bugs sometimes feed on smaller relatives! When the bugs jab their proboscis into a less fortunate insect, they inject a toxin that slowly immobilizes the prey. The predigested insides are then sucked out.”
When they are developing, these stink bugs go through five stages, known as instars. The two largest bugs in the photo below are adults, while the two in the middle are in some what earlier stages of development. I don’t know for sure what this group of bugs was doing, but wonder if there is some kind of prey beneath them that they are immobilizing together.
As I was leaving Occoquan Bay National Wildlife Refuge on Friday, I spotted this small band of Wild Turkeys (Meleagris gallopavo) foraging on the side of a small hill. I captured this image while I was seated in the driver’s seat of my car. I was stopped with my blinkers on and fortunately there was no other traffic. I like the way that the turkeys had spaced themselves out in a military-style patrolling formation.
The weather is cooling off, but whenever there is the slightest amount of sunshine, I can count on seeing turtles basking in the warmth of the sun. This past Wednesday, I spotted these three turtles on a partially submerged tree branch in the small pond at Jackson Miles Abbott Wetland Refuge. I am pretty sure that the turtle on the right is a Red-eared Slider (Trachemys scripta elegans) and the other two may be Yellow-bellied Sliders (Trachemys scripta scripta).
I am always a fan of reflections and I love the way that we can see reflections of the turtles on the rippled surface of the water. It was an added bonus to have some patches of red, a sign of the changing season.
On Wednesday at Jackson Miles Abbott Wetland Refuge I was thrilled to spot this rainbow-colored Handsome Meadow Katydid (Orchelimum pulchellum), which is probably my favorite insect. In addition to its multiple colors, I love its striking blue eyes and long antennae.
My title is a little misleading, because technically there are some differences between grasshoppers and katydids. One of the most visible differences is the length of the antennae—a katydid’s antennae are longer than the length of its body, while a grasshopper’s tend to be shorter. In the first photo, I cut off one of the antennae a bit when I cropped the photo, but if you look closely you can see that the antenna runs all the way to the left edge of the photo.
Shortly after I took the first photo, the katydid became aware of my presence and tried to hide from me. She stretched out her legs, which really elongated her body, and she was almost successful in concealing herself behind the stalk of grass.
How do I know that the katydid is a female? If you look closely at the tail end of the katydid in the first photo, you can see a red scimitar-shaped appendage. That is the ovipositor that the katydid uses to make a slit in vegetation in which to deposit her eggs.
At this time of the year, many of the butterflies that I see are showing the ravages of a long summer season. That, however, was not the case with several Monarch butterflies (Danaus plexippus) that I spotted last week at Occoquan Bay National Wildlife Refuge that appeared to be in perfect condition.
Perhaps these are newly emerged Monarchs that are now preparing for a long migration flight to warmer locations.
The weather this past week has been cool, cloudy, and rainy, with high temperatures struggling to reach 65 degrees (18 degrees C). I fear that many dragonflies will not survive and so I celebrate each sighting of a dragonfly species, conscious that it could be the last one that I see this season.
Last Thursday I spotted this Needham’s Skimmer dragonfly (Libellula needhami) while I was visiting Occoquan Bay National Wildlife Refuge. Its wings are tattered and its colors have faded, but it was still active.
Autumn often makes me pensive and I become more aware of the passage of time. Our lives are just as fragile and limited as those of the beautiful little insects that I am so fond of photographing. May we all find beauty, meaning, and love as we live our lives.
Can you identify this insect? At first glance it looks a little bit like a dragonfly, but if you look more closely you may notice that the wings and eyes are different from those of a dragonfly and this insect’s body is a lot hairier. This is a robber fly and I am pretty sure that it is a variety known as a Red-footed Cannibalfly (Promachus rufipes). Yikes!
Red-footed Cannibalflies are one of the coolest and creepiest insects that you can encounter in the wild. As their macabre moniker suggests, Red-footed cannibalflies usually feed on other insects, but they reportedly are capable of taking down a hummingbird. Thankfully I have never seen that happen, since I really like hummingbirds, but several years ago I did photograph a Red-footed Cannibalfly with a large Hummingbird Moth that it had captured (see my 2017 posting Demise of a hummingbird moth).
A posting that I did in 2013 entitled “Red-footed Cannibalfly” amazingly has been one of my most popular postings ever, with almost 3300 views to date. Apparently more people search for information about Red-footed Cannibalflies that I would have anticipated.
I captured this image last Thursday as I was exploring some of the trails at Occoquan Bay National Wildlife Refuge in Northern Virginia.
I was happy last Thursday when a Black Saddlebags dragonfly (Tramea lacerata) that I had been tracking overhead at Occoquan Bay National Wildlife Refuge perched for a moment, allowing me to capture this first image. While it was flying, I attempted multiple times to get a shot of it, with minimal success. The second photo is my best one.
Some dragonflies spend a lot of their time perched, but Black Saddlebags are one of the species that spends most of its time in the air, so it is rewarding to be able to see one land and to get a shot of it. Black Saddlebags are also one of the few dragonfly species that are migrate although, according to the Dragonflies of Northern Virginia website, scientists do not fully understand why they do so and have been studying their migratory patterns.
I almost always have trouble identifying shore birds, especially the different kinds of sandpipers. On Thursday, I spotted a single sandpiper-like bird in the shallow water of a pond at Occoquan Bay National Wildlife Refuge. Initially I thought it might be a Solitary Sandpiper, but when I got a good look at its legs, I leaned towards calling it a Lesser Yellowlegs (Tringa flavipes)—Solitary Sandpipers have greenish legs.
It was fascinating to watch the little bird move through the water, carefully raising its feet. On land, it seemed to prance a bit. In the final photo, the bird was flexing its wings as part of its grooming routine and seemed to be keeping an eye on me.
When I stepped out of my car on Thursday at Occoquan Bay National Wildlife Refuge, I notice a bird pecking about in the grass at the edge of the parking lot.The lenght of its tail made me think of a Northern Mockingbird, but the coloration was more sparrow-like. As I tracked the bird in my camera’s viewfinder, the bird lifted its head and I caught a glimpse of its bright yellow eye and realized that it was a Brown Thrasher (Toxostoma rufum), a species that I have seen only a few times before.
I really like the basic description of the species on the Cornell Lab of Ornithology website—”It can be tricky to glimpse a Brown Thrasher in a tangled mass of shrubbery, and once you do you may wonder how such a boldly patterned, gangly bird could stay so hidden. Brown Thrashers wear a somewhat severe expression thanks to their heavy, slightly downcurved bill and staring yellow eyes, and they are the only thrasher species east of Texas. Brown Thrashers are exuberant singers, with one of the largest repertoires of any North American songbird.”
I was not able to get close to this Blue Grosbeak (Passerina caerulea) on Monday at Occoquan Bay National Wildlife Refuge, but was thrilled to get a shot that was good enough for me to identify the bird. As far as I know, this is the first time that I have photographed a Blue Grosbeak.
When I first spotted this bird, I thought that it was probably an Indigo Bunting. When I got home and looked more closely at the images, however, I noticed the reddish wing bars that are not found on an Indigo Bunting, so I scoured my bird identification book until I came across the Blue Grosbeak.
These two shots illustrate well the dilemma I have in photographing small birds at this time of the year. Many of them like to perch high in the trees and the leaves often hide them from view. When I hear a bird singing, I try to locate it, but am usually unsuccessful in doing so unless the bird moves. In a month or so, many of the leaves will be gone, but so will many of the birds that are now passing through our area.
On Monday I spotted these two Wild Turkeys (Meleagris gallopavo) at Occoquan Bay National Wildlife Refuge as they climbed a small hill through some tall grass. They kept disappearing from view, but occasionally their heads would pop up and I was able to capture a few shots of them.
The bodies of the turkeys are partially hidden by the vegetation, but I really like the way that I was able to capture a sense of the habitat in which I saw the turkeys. Normally I spot turkeys in the open on the trails at this wildlife refuge, so it was cool to see them traveling “off-road.”
On Monday I was thrilled to spot multiple Monarch butterflies (Danaus plexippus) during a visit to Occoquan Bay National Wildlife Refuge. The first shot is the typical kind of shot that I usually try to take, but I really like the third image that I captured of a distant Monarch butterfly in a field of flowers—so many flowers, so little time.
For the last few weeks I have been searching diligently for the late-season dragonfly species that appear on the scene in late August and early September. So far I have come up mostly empty-handed, but I was thrilled to spot this cool-looking Russet-tipped Clubtail dragonfly (Stylurus plagiatus) on 6 September at Jackson Miles Abbott Wetland Refuge. In my area, Russet-tipped Clubtails are seen most often in August and September, but they are somewhat uncommon.
As some of you know, I dabble a bit with YouTube. At about this time last year I did a little video about Russet-tipped Clubtails that you might enjoy watching. It was one of my first videos and lasts about a minute and a half. Click on this link to view the video in YouTube. I am also embedding a YouTube link at the end of this posting. Depending on how you are reading this blog, you may be able to watch the video from within the blog.
A year ago, I had aspirations of shooting more video footage during my photography outings. I have made only minor progress in that area, but it is still something that interests me a lot. I have learned the basics of making and editing videos, but am struggling to figure out what stories I want to tell and how a video can help me tell those stories.
As we move deeper into September I have been seeing more and more Black and Yellow Garden Orbweaver spiders (Argiope aurantia). These spiders are impressively large and have prominent webs with a distinctive zigzag pattern near the center.
During recent visits to Occoquan Bay National Wildlife Refuge, I have seen multiple Big Bluet damselflies (Enallagma durum) that have gotten caught up in the webs of the Argiope spiders. In the first photo the spider is moving in on two damselflies. After immobilizing the prey, the spider will often wrap it in web material, as you can see in the second image.
The final shot shows a hapless damselfly entangled at the edge of a web. I observed the damselfly for a few moments to see if I could detect any signs of movement, with thoughts that I might be able to free it. However, I did not see any movement and suspect that I had arrived too late to rescue this damsel in distress.
Some viewers may object to these kind of graphic images, but for me it is part of the “circle of life” in nature—all creatures have to eat to survive. As I have observed numerous times, today’s predator may well become tomorrow’s prey.
In many of my blog postings, I concentrate on a single species of dragonflies, but today I want to celebrate the diversity of species that I have been seeing during the month of September. Despite my warnings in some earlier postings about the decreasing numbers of dragonflies, I continue to see a variety of species—Northern Virginia, where I live, is blessed to have an abundance of different dragonflies and damselflies.
The first photo shows a female Eastern Amberwing (Perithemis tenera), the smallest dragonfly in our area. Males of this species hang out at ponds, but the females, which do not have amber wings like the males, are usually found in vegetation some distance from the water.
The second image shows a male Calico Pennant (Celithemis elisa), a beautifully colored dragonfly with distinctive patterns on its wings. The third image shows a mature female Needham’s Skimmer (Libellula needhami). Her wings show some damage and her color has fades, but she is still beautiful and the golden strands on the front edges of her wings were sparkling in the sunlight when I captured this image.
The fourth image shows a female Eastern Pondhawk (Erythemis simplicicollis), one of the most common dragonfly species in my area. I love the brilliant emerald color of the females (and immature males) of this species and the black markings on the abdomen.
The dragonfly in the last photo was the toughest one for me to identify. It had flown up into a tree and I was looking into the sun when I captured the image. However, I am pretty sure that it is a female Great Blue Skimmer (Libellula vibrans).
All of these dragonflies belong to the Skimmer family, the largest dragonfly family that includes the species most likely to be seen by a casual dragonfly watcher. The other families, which are generally harder to find, include Clubtails, Cruisers, Darners, Emeralds, Petaltails, and Spiketails. If I remember correctly, I have managed this season to photograph at least one dragonfly in all seven of these dragonfly families.
Dragonflies were flying overhead at several locations at Occoquan Bay National Wildlife Refuge on Thursday, including a Common Green Darner (Anax junius), multiple Black Saddlebags (Tramea lacerata), and at least one Wandering Glider (Pantala flavescens). The Wandering Glider, alas, was elusive and I could not get an in-flight shot of it, but I did manage to get a shot of a Common Green Darner (1st photo) and a Black Saddlebags (2nd photo).
All three of these dragonfly species are migratory species. Migrating dragonflies will often fly in mixed swarms that are large enough that they are sometimes picked up by weather radars. For more details about this phenomenon, check out this September 2019 article in the Washington Post entitled “Weather radar is picking up swarms of dragonflies from the Midwest to the Mid-Atlantic.”
On Thursday at Occoquan Bay National Wildlife Refuge I captured this image of a Great Blue Heron (Ardea herodias) at water’s edge. Heron’s are quite large and normally are easy to spot.
However, as I was approaching this area, this Great Blue Heron was initially hidden from view by the metal posts sticking out of the water, as you can see in the second photo. Fortunately the heron’s head was turned to the side and it was the bird’s large bill that gave away its presence. I had to walk farther down the trail and look back to get the viewing angle for the first photo in which the heron is somewhat separated from the posts and is more visible.
For those of us in the northern hemisphere who use the astronomical calendar, tomorrow (23 September) marks the beginning of the autumn season. In so many of the photos that I have taken during the past few weeks, I have noted signs of the changing seasons.
The warm orange tones in this shot of a female Needham’s Skimmer dragonfly (Libellula needhami) remind me of pumpkins and autumn leaves. The fading flowers in the photo of a male Common Whitetail dragonfly (Plathemis lydia) remind us that the growing season is coming to an end. The dryness of the stalk on which the Slaty Skimmer (Libellula incesta) dragonfly perch brings to mind the droughts and extreme weather that many have experience during this summer.
Embrace the new season and the opportunities is provides, whether it be autumn in the northern hemisphere or spring for those in the southern hemisphere.
On Monday I captured this shot of a small white spider—I think it may be a White-banded Crab Spider (Misumenoides formosipes)—at Occoquan Bay National Wildlife Refuge. I really like the way that the coloration of the tips of the spider’s leg are an almost perfect match for the spiky thorns of the vegetation. In the second photo, the spider looks a lot like a crab in the way that it is shaped and was moving—it’s easy to see why it is called a “crab” spider.
At this time of the year we experience the change in seasons in many different ways. We feel the gradual cooling of the weather. We see the changing colors of the leaves on the trees. We hear (and see) the unmistakable sound of flocks of migrating Canada Geese (Branta canadensis).
Although we seem to have a resident population of Canada Geese in our area year-round, during the spring and summer large flocks of geese fly through our area and it is quite common to hear the loud honking of the geese as they fly overhead. Sometimes they fly in military precision in a v-formation, but more often than not they are in a looser formation, as was the case with these Canada Geese that I photographed last week while I was looking for dragonflies at Jackson Miles Abbott Wetland Refuge in Northern Virginia.
Wings are tattered. Flowers have faded. Summer is ending. (Blue Dasher dragonfly (Pachydiplax longipennis) photographed on 6 September at Jackson Miles Abbott Wetland Refuge.)
I don’t often see dragonflies perch on flowers, so I was delighted when this female Blue Dasher (Pachydiplax longipennis) decided to rest for a moment on an aster plant in bloom last week at Jackson Miles Abbott Wetland Refuge.
I decided not to crop this photo to show the dragonfly better, because I really like the sweep of bright color on the left side of the image and the more muted out-of-focus colors on the right side. I am growing to love this type of environmental portrait, which goes against my normal approach of trying to fill as much of the frame as possible with my primary subject.
As I was observing some Wild Turkeys (Meleagris gallopavo) last Thursday at Occoquan Bay National Wildlife Refuge, one of them suddenly decided to stretch a bit and flapped his wings. In the past I have seen a turkey extend its wings like this only when running away from me. In this case, though, the turkey went back to pecking on the ground and either was not aware of my presence or was simply not bothered by it.
Perhaps he was just trying to cool off on what was a really hot, humid day.
Certain creatures, like Bald Eagles (Haliaeetus leucocephalus) and Monarch butterflies (Danaus plexippus), never fail to thrill my heart when I encounter them. I remember dire warnings from my youth of their threatened extension and I consider it a real blessing that they are still around. The Bald Eagle population has really rebounded, but it is my understanding that the survival of Monarchs is still at risk as a result of the loss of Monarch breeding habitats.
I did not see any Bald Eagles during my visit to Occoquan Bay National Wildlife Refuge this past Thursday, but I was excited to spot this stunning Monarch butterfly. Its colors were bright and vibrant and it seemed to be in perfect condition. I suspect that this butterfly was preparing itself for its upcoming migration flight. According to an article by the National Wildlife Federation, “Beginning in late summer and continuing into early fall, monarchs that emerge from their chrysalides will be behaviorally and biologically different from generations that emerged earlier this year. Unlike their parents and grandparents, these late-season monarchs do not mate or lay eggs. Instead, the insects focus on feeding to fatten up for long migrations to their winter habitats: coastal California for monarchs west of the Rocky Mountains and central Mexico for those to the east.”
The Monarch butterfly was so focused on feeding that it did not fly away as I maneuvered into position to capture this image. I even had the luxury of attempting shots from several angles as the butterfly moved about from flower to flower.
Do you prefer to live your life widely or deeply? That is a curious question, but it is one that affects the way that many of us approach our photography and our lives in general. Let me reframe the question. Are you always seeking to visit new places to see new things, i.e. living “widely”, or would you rather spend your time in familiar locations with familiar subjects, going back to the same places repeatedly, i.e. living “deeply?”
As you may have guessed, I tend to put myself in the second category. I like to observe the seasonal changes at a few local areas, watching for new species to arrive and to depart (or disappear), observing the changes in the flora and the fauna, and discovering favorite spots for my photography. I am not really consumed by a need or desire to add to my “life list” of birds or insects that I have seen, though I do enjoy visiting other locations.
All of these thoughts were percolating in my brain on Wednesday when I visited Jackson Miles Abbott Wetland Refuge to see which dragonflies were still present. I was particularly delighted to spot several Swift Setwing dragonflies (Dythemis velox). In June 2016 at this same refuge, I first photographed a Swift Setwing—a primarily southern species that had never before have been spotted in Fairfax County, the county where I live—and each year since I have eagerly returned to learn more about the species. For more details on my initial sighting, check out my 2016 blog posting Swift Setwing dragonfly.
It is always tough to frame shots of Swift Setwings, because they like to perch on vegetation that overhangs the water and they face the water. The sun was shining brightly and I was happy to capture a couple of images in which the dragonfly appears to be perching among the clouds. I did try to get down low, but I think the background is a reflection of the sky in the water of the pond and not the sky itself.
For the second image, I was far away from the dragonfly. I couldn’t get a clear shot of the Swift Setwing, so I chose to use some vegetation blocking my view as a framing element in the foreground. I like the way that the image turned out.
On Wednesday I spotted this beautiful Viceroy butterfly (Limenitis archippus) during a short visit to Jackson Miles Abbott Wetland Refuge. At one end of the refuge, there is a patch of wildflowers and I always make sure to check it out for birds, butterflies, and other insects. I am no expert on wildflowers, but I think the purple plant in the photo may be a variety of ironweed.
As you can probably tell, the Viceroy is considered to be a mimic of the somewhat larger Monarch butterfly. They are pretty easy to tell apart, however, because the Viceroy has a black line across the hind wings that is not found on the wings of Monarchs.
From a distance, many dragonflies are hard to identify. However, the wing markings on a male Twelve-spotted Skimmer dragonfly (Libellula pulchella) are so distinctive that I could identify this dragonfly immediately when I spotted it yesterday in the marshland at Jackson Miles Abbott Wetland Refuge.
If you take the time to count all of the spots on the wings of the dragonfly, you come up with a number much higher than 12. Why then is it called a Twelve-spotted Skimmer? Someone decided that it was best to count only the dark spots, because only the males generally have the white spots. It is a rare case when gender equality seems to have factored into the name of a species—normally species’ names are based on the characteristics of the male.
Mike Powell 