Feeds:
Posts
Comments

Posts Tagged ‘Black-shouldered Spinyleg dragonfly’

Black-shouldered Spinylegs

Posted in Dragonflies, dragonfly, Insects, Nature, Photography, Summer, wildlife, tagged , , , , , , on July 24, 2021| 7 Comments »

I have encountered Black-shouldered Spinyleg dragonflies (Dromogomphus spinosus) several times in two different locations over the past week. As you can tell by looking at the enlarged end of their abdomens, these rather large dragonflies (about 2.5 inches (65 mm) in length) are part of the Clubtail family. I spotted the dragonflies in the first and third photos in the vegetation adjacent to a river and the one in the middle photo on a rocky ledge that jutted into a mountain stream.

I must confess that most of the time I have difficulties seeing the “black shoulders” of this species, but the spiny legs can be quite visible. If you click on the final image and look closely at the dragonfly’s back legs, you can’t help but notice the sharp spines that look to be as large and pointed as the thorns in the vegetation that frequently tear at my trousers. The large leg spines of the Black-shouldered Spinyleg help the dragonfly to capture and to hold on to prey.

Balck-shouldered Spinyleg

Black-shouldered Spinyleg

Black-shouldered Spinyleg

© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.

Read Full Post »

Black-shouldered Spinyleg in June

Posted in Dragonflies, dragonfly, Insects, Nature, Photography, Summer, wildlife, tagged , , , , , on June 21, 2021| 7 Comments »

I was not sure what kind of dragonfly this was when I photographed it last Thursday while exploring a stream in Prince William County with fellow dragonfly enthusiast Walter Sanford, but Walter was able to immediately identify it for me as a Black-shouldered Spinyleg dragonfly (Dromogomphus spinosus). Unfortunately the dragonfly flew away before Walter was able to get a shot of it himself.

As I look at the photo now, I am pretty confident that I would have eventually come up with the correct identification. If you look carefully at the upper portion of the long back legs, you can’t help but notice the distinctive leg spines that are responsible the common name for this species and that help him to snag and hold onto prey. As for his “shoulders,” the wide shoulder stripe looks a little more brown than black in this photo, but may darken with age.

Many of you know that when I am out in the field, I do not worry too much about making definitive identifications of my subjects. I am amused whenever I see birders pulling out identification guides or checking their favorites apps when they are out in the field. I am content to worry about identification after I have returned home and I tend to follow what I like to call the “law of the Old West”—shoot first and ask questions later.

Black-shouldered Spinyleg

© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.

 

Read Full Post »

What spiny legs you have…

Posted in Dragonflies, dragonfly, Insects, Nature, Photography, Summer, wildlife, tagged , , , , , on July 12, 2019| 4 Comments »

A couple of weeks ago I posted a photo of a Black-shouldered Spinyleg dragonfly (Dromogomphus spinosus) that prompted one of my readers, Molly Lin Dutina of Treasures in Plain Sight, to comment, “Spinyleg —sounds like something a child would be afraid of!” That photo, alas, did not give a very good view of the spiny legs.

This week, however, as I was exploring a creek in Prince William County, Virginia, I was fortunate to capture some images of a Black-shouldered Spinyleg that show off those fearsome spines. If you click on the image below and focus your attention on the back legs, you will see the long pointed spines that help the dragonfly hold on to prey.

Ouch! 

Black-shouldered Spinyleg

© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.

Read Full Post »

Black-shouldered Spinyleg

Posted in Dragonflies, dragonfly, Nature, Photography, Summer, wildlife, tagged , , , , , on June 28, 2019| 7 Comments »

Perhaps there are dragonflies with longer names than the Black-shouldered Spinyleg dragonfly (Dromogomphus spinosus), but none of them immediately come to mind. Sometimes I will complain about the inaccurate names given to various species, but in this case the descriptors are accurate. Alas, when I spotted this dragonfly in a boggy area of Prince William County, Virginia last week, I couldn’t get close enough to capture those details very well.

The vegetation on which the dragonfly is perched is skunk cabbage, a plant that grows in the mucky confines of seeps and swamps. It is said that bruised leaves present a fragrance reminiscent of skunk, so I try to step carefully  whenever I am near any skunk cabbage.

Black-shouldered Spinyleg

© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.

Read Full Post »

Black-shouldered Spinyleg predator

Posted in damselfly, Dragonflies, dragonfly, Insects, Nature, Summer, wildlife, tagged , , , , , on July 21, 2018| 6 Comments »

As I was exploring the edge of the Potomac River yesterday at Riverbend Park, I flushed a fairly large dragonfly. Rather than fly away, it perched in a nearby tree, just above eye level. I suspected that I had interrupted a meal and that it wanted to enjoy its prey in peace.

The dragonfly was in the shade and the light was filtering in from in front of me, so the shadows made it hard to tell exactly what was going on. I fired away anyways, hoping that I would be able to salvage the images afterwards.

It turns out that the dragonfly is a Black-shouldered Spinyleg (Dromogomphus spinosus). You definitely can see the large spines on the dragonfly’s back legs, which help in capturing and holding prey, and you can sort of see the black shoulders. As I suspected, there was a prey–the dragonfly had captured some kind of damselfly.

I decided to try a couple of different techniques to try to capture a usable image. In the first shot, I used software to adjust the exposure levels and remove some of the shadows, which had the side effect of brightening the entire image and blowing out some of the detail in the background. As a result, the leaves also look a little washed out. In the second shot, I used my camera’s pop-up flash to help eliminate some of the shadows. The resulting image retains a bit more of the full range of tonal values, but may still be a little too dark. Neither image is perfect, but wildlife photography is so often about making compromises.

Black-shouldered Spinyleg

Black-shouldered Spinyleg

© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.

Read Full Post »

Black-shouldered Spinyleg

Posted in Dragonflies, Insects, Nature, Photography, Summer, tagged , , , , , , on July 24, 2016| 4 Comments »

As I was walking through a field of sunflowers at McKee-Beshers Wildlife Management Area in Poolesville, Maryland, I spotted an unusual dragonfly that I couldn’t immediately identify. It turned out to be a Black-shouldered Spinyleg dragonfly (Dromogomphus spinosus)—a cool name for a cool-looking dragonfly.

When I first caught sight of the dragonfly, the dragonfly’s long, skinny abdomen and the enlarged area near the end suggested to me that it was a member of the clubtail family of dragonflies. (You can get a really good sense of the shape of the “clubtail” when you look at the shadows in a couple of the images). The only clubtails that I have seen with any kind of regularity have been Common Sanddragons and Unicorn Clubtails, and this was clearly not one of them. When I am out in the field, I don’t worry too much about identification—I practice what I call the “Law of the West,” i.e. “shoot first and ask questions later.”

Later in the day my shooting partner was able to identify the dragonfly after I pointed her to the website “Dragonflies of Northern Virginia.” This website is my favorite resources for information and photos of dragonflies in my area. I checked my past blog postings because I had a vague recollection that I had seen this species before and found a posting indicating that I saw one almost exactly a year ago on a trip to a different part of Maryland.

Black-shouldered Spinyleg

Black-shouldered Spinyleg

Black-shouldered Spinyleg

© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.

 

Read Full Post »

Black-shouldered Spinyleg dragonfly

Posted in Dragonflies, Insects, Macro Photography, Nature, Photography, wildlife, tagged , , , , , , on July 30, 2015| 8 Comments »

Last Saturday at Lilypons Water Gardens in Adamstown, Maryland I spotted a large dragonfly that I had never seen before, a Black-shouldered Spinyleg (Dromogomphus spinosus). That’s definitely a cool (and descriptive) name for a spectacular-looking dragonfly.

The dragonfly remained perched in the vegetation surrounding a small pond long enough for me to get shots from a few different angles and distances with my macro lens. I was particularly struck by the length of the long black legs, which somehow reminded me of those of a spider.

Black-shouldered Spinyleg

Black-shouldered Spinyleg

Black-shouldered Spinyleg

© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.

 

Read Full Post »

%d bloggers like this: