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Posts Tagged ‘Blue-tipped Dancer damselfly’

Blue-tipped Dancer damselfly

Posted in damselfly, Insects, Nature, Photography, Summer, wildlife, tagged , , , , , , on June 25, 2025| 1 Comment »

I’m reluctant to go out in our current extreme heat here in Northern Virginia, so here’s a shot from earlier this month (11 June) of a Blue-tipped Dancer damselfly (Argia tibialis) at Wickford Park in Alexandria. This damselfly looks a bit like several other species, but the angle of this photo shows the distinguishing features of a Blue-tipped Dancer including its mostly black abdomen, the wide deep purple stripes on its thorax, and, of course, the blue color of the final two segments of its abdomen.

Some of you may recall a recent posting that featured a Common Sanddragon dragonfly perched on a leaf at this same location. Believe it or not, this is the exact same leaf. I am not sure that there is anything special about the leaf, other than the fact that it was the only on the sandy/rocky bank of the creek, but I was more than happy to capture images of both a dragonfly and damselfly separately perched on it.

Blue-tipped Dancer

© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.

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Blue-tipped Dancer

Posted in damselfly, Insects, Nature, Photography, Summer, wildlife, tagged , , , , , , on August 13, 2024| Leave a Comment »

During a recent visit to Jackson Miles Abbott Wetlands Refuge I spotted this Blue-tipped Dancer (Argia tibialis) damselfly. I was initially quite far from it when I first saw it and was not at all certain what it was. As I got closer to it, I could see that it was mostly black and only the very tip of its abdomen was blue in coloration. I did not immediately recognize it, but figured that I would be able to do so after the fact. In doing so, I was applying one of my primary rules of photography—shoot first and ask questions later.

When I got home and was processing the images, I decided that it was probably a Blue-tipped Dancer, a fairly common dark species that is reportedly found at a diverse number of locations. Upon discovering its name, I did a search of my past blog postings and discovered that I had seen one a few times before. I guess I would have remembered the name of the species if I saw it more often, but am happy that I was able to be able to retrieve it.

Yesterday we finally had a break from the extremely hot weather and I finally was able to get out with my camera. I am pretty sure that I captured some images that I will want to share with you all. Stay tuned for more.

Blue-tipped Dancer

© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.

 

 

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Damselfly Sisyphus

Posted in damselfly, fantasy, Insects, Nature, Photography, Summer, wildlife, tagged , , , , , , on July 1, 2022| 3 Comments »

On Wednesday I spotted this aptly-named Blue-tipped Dancer damselfly (Argia tibialis) while I was exploring a small stream at Jackson Miles Wetland Refuge. This was my first sighting of this species this season, so I was really happy to see it.

Unlike most damselflies, this one was content to perch on the rocks in the stream bed rather than on the nearby vegetation. That meant that I too had to descend to water level for me to get a shot.

When I took the image, I remember that I liked the way that the damselfly was perching at the edge of a large rock and I carefully composed the shot to include the entirety of the rock. As I was adjusting the image this morning, however, it suddenly struck me that the damselfly looked like it was trying to push the rock aside, which would clearly be an impossible task.

I immediately thought of the story of Sisyphus. According to Greek mythology, Zeus punished Sisyphus for cheating death twice by forcing him to roll an immense boulder up a hill only for it to roll down every time it neared the top, repeating this action for eternity.

I obviously have an overly active imagination when I start making these kinds of strange connections early in the morning. but it is fun sometimes to just let my creative mind run freely. I never know where these flights of fancy will take me, but the final destinations are often quirky. So, can you too imagine my little damselfly as an insect Sisyphus?

Blue-tipped Dancer

© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.

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Blue-tipped Dancer damselfly

Posted in Art, damselfly, Macro Photography, Nature, Photography, Summer, wildlife, tagged , , , , , , , on July 18, 2020| 6 Comments »

Many of the species that I photograph have names that do not match up that well with their physical appearances. While I was exploring a creek this week with my friend Walter Sanford, it was wonderful, therefore, to spot a dark damselfly with blue at the end of its abdomen that is appropriately called the Blue-tipped Dancer (Argia tibialis). If you click on the images, you will note that this male damselfly has beautiful purple stripes on its thorax (upper body) in addition to that blue tip.

When photographing damselflies like this one that perch on the ground, I try to get as low as I can in order to see eye-to-eye and simplify the background. I managed to do that in the first image and I really like the soft glow in the background from the waters of the creek.

I did not get as close for the second shot, in part because the damselfly was a bit skittish. However, I do like the way that I was able to capture the colors and textures of the rocky environment along the edge of the stream, giving the viewer a better idea of this damselfly’s habitat.

Like most damselflies, Blue-tipped Dancers are tiny, no more than 1.5 inches (38 mm) in length, so it is always a challenge to get detailed shots of them. The largest damselflies that I have ever photographed were the appropriately named Great Spreadwings, that are as much as 2.4 inches (61 mm) in length. If you want to see what one of those beautiful “giants” looks like, check out this posting from October 2015 entitled “Great Spreadwing damselfly (male).”

blue-tipped dancer

blue-tipped dancer

© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.

 

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Beginning of the end

Posted in damselfly, Insects, Nature, Photography, Summer, wildlife, tagged , , , , , , on August 11, 2019| 5 Comments »

On Friday I spotted this female Blue-tipped Dancer damselfly (Argia tibialis) alongside a creek in Prince William County, Virginia. The fallen leaves provided a nice backdrop for the damselfly and remind me that the days of the summer are numbered.

Some of you undoubtedly noticed that there is no blue tip on this Blue-tipped Dancer. As is often the case for species names for insects (and for birds too), the name applies primarily to the males of the species. There is, however, some variety among female Blue-tipped Dancers, with a blue variant, as seen below, and a brown variant.

Blue-tipped Dancer

© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.

 

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Damselflies on the Potomac

Posted in Dragonflies, Insects, Nature, Photography, tagged , , , , , , , , on August 17, 2015| 9 Comments »

When photographing a subject, how important are the surroundings to you? Most of you know that I like close-up shots and often I zoom in or crop to the point where you don’t have a good sense of the environment.

This past weekend, I went for a walk along the Potomac River (on the Virginia side) and observed a lot of damselflies. I had my Tamron 150-600mm lens on my camera and soon realized that I had a problem—even at the minimum focusing distance (approximately 9 feet/2.7 meters), there was no way that I could fill the frame with a damselfly.

Still, I was drawn to the beauty of the damselflies, which I believe are Blue-tipped Dancers (Argia tibialis), and I took quite a few shots of them.

As I reviewed the images on my computer, I realized how much I liked the organic feel of the natural surroundings. In the first shot, there are lots of vines on the surface of the rock on which the damselfly is perched that add texture and visual interest. In the second shot, I love the twist in the vine and the single leaf hanging down.

All in all, the surroundings on these two shots were so interesting that I didn’t feel any desire to crop the images more severely, and the environment has become just as much the subject as the damselfly. It’s probably worth remembering this the next time when I am tempted to move in really close to a subject—I should at least attempt to get some environmental shots too.

UPDATE:  It looks like my initial identification was off—there are lots of blue damselflies and this one more probably is a Big Bluet (Enallagma durum). Thanks to my local odonata expert, Walter Sanford, for the assist.

Blue-tipped Dancer

Blue-tipped Dancer

© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.

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Blue-Tipped Dancers in tandem

Posted in Dragonflies, Insects, Macro Photography, Nature, Photography, Summer, tagged , , , , , , on July 14, 2015| 4 Comments »

When damselflies are connected in the tandem mating position, they are large enough to be noticed, especially when they fly right by me, as was the case this past Friday. They were pretty skittish, but I managed to get a couple of relatively clear shots.

My identification task was greatly eased by the fact that these were not one of the multiple blue species that inhabit my local marshland park—there was only a little blue on the tip of the male’s abdomen. Imagine my shock when I learned that these damselflies are Blue-tipped Dancers (Argia tibialis). In my experience, names generally are not that helpful when it comes to identification, but this is an obvious exception.

Sharp-eyed readers may notice that these damselflies look a bit like the one currently featured in the banner of my blog. That damselfly is a Violet Dancer, a subspecies of the Variable Dancer species (Argia fumipennis). Apparently damselflies do a lot of dancing!

If you are interested in seeing some photos and descriptions of the bluet family of damselflies at our local park, check out this recent posting by fellow blogger and photographer Walter Sanford entitled Blue for Bluets.

Blue-tipped Dancer

Blue-tipped Dancer

© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved

 

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