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Posts Tagged ‘Dusky Dancer’

Stream damselflies

Posted in damselfly, Insects, Nature, Photography, Summer, wildlife, tagged , , , , , , , , on August 13, 2023| Leave a Comment »

Most of the damselflies that I photograph are found at ponds. However, there are other damselflies that are found primarily at streams and creeks. I spotted two such species this past Tuesday when I was exploring a creek in Prince William County, Virginia.

The damselfly in the first photo is a Powdered Dancer (Argia moesta) that I spotted on a rocky ledge of the creek. Male Powdered Dancers are the only mostly white damselflies that I have seen and they get increasingly white as they mature. I love the way the angle of the shot makes it look like the damselfly was perched on the side of a massive mountain that it was attempting to climb.

The damselfly in the second photo is a Dusky Dancer (Argia translata). This damselfly may have the most intense blue eyes that I have ever seen on an insect. It was perched on a rocky ledge at the edge of a creek. I would have liked to get a closer shot, but the bank of the creek was high and steep and the ledge was inaccessible to me (unless I was willing to get really wet, which I did not want to do).

According to Wikipedia, the damselflies in the genus Argia, are commonly known as “dancers” because of the distinctive jerky form of flight they use which contrasts with the straightforward direct flight of bluets, forktails, and other pond damselflies.

Powdered Dancer

Dusky Dancer

© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.

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Damselfly hook-up

Posted in damselfly, Insects, Macro Photography, Nature, Photography, Summer, wildlife, tagged , , , , , , , , , on July 14, 2022| 1 Comment »

I was not sure of the species of these damselflies when they flew by me in tandem last week at Green Spring Gardens, but I managed to track them visually until they landed on some floating vegetation. As some of you may recall, when damselflies mate, their bodies form a shape that resembles a sidewards heart, a position sometimes referred to as the “wheel” position. When mating is completed, the damselfly couples fly off together with the male still grasping the female by the back of her head and the male stays attached as the female deposits her eggs—that may have been why they landed on this vegetation.

When I returned home and was able to examine the damselflies closely, I was delighted to see that they were Dusky Dancers (Argia translata), a species that I rarely see. If you click on the photos, you can get a closer look at the stunning eyes and beautiful markings of these damselflies. I am particularly drawn to the pattern of thin blue rings around the abdomen of the male, the damselfly on the left that is perched almost vertically.

Dusky Dancer

© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.

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Solid Gold Dancers

Posted in damselfly, Insects, Nature, Photography, Summer, wildlife, tagged , , , , , , on August 9, 2021| 12 Comments »

You may be revealing your age if you answer this question, but how many of you remember the 1980’s television series Solid Gold that featured pop music and the Solid Gold Dancers? Somehow my mind made that connection to my distant past when I saw the water shimmering with a metallic glow in the background of these Dusky Dancer damselflies (Argia translata) that I spotted last Thursday as I was exploring a stream in Prince William County, Virginia.

What were they doing? The pair of Dusky Dancer damselflies was in tandem, with the male holding on to the female as she deposited eggs on the side of a stone in the stream. In some dragonfly and damselfly species, the male hangs on like this to ensure that no rival male prevents the female from ensuring that his genes are passed on. With some species of dragonflies, the male instead hovers overhead as the female dips the tip of her abdomen into the water to release eggs.

This was a somewhat challenging shot for me to take, because I had to get really low and position myself carefully to get both damselflies in focus. Dusky Dancers are only about an inch and a half (38 mm) in length, so I had to get relatively close to the couple, though my 180mm macro lens gave me a bit of stand-off distance so I did not feel too much like a voyeur.

If you have not heard of Solid Gold, here is a link to a You Tube version of the episode that aired on March 14, 1981. So many of the songs and other performances brought back sweet memories of the 1980’s. You may not want to listen to the entire episode as I did, but if you can, I recommend that you jump ahead to 31:57 of the You Tube video and listen to the live version of Dionne Warwick, the original host of the TV series, singing “What the World Need Now is Love.”

I still believe in the power of those words, “What the world needs now is love, sweet love, no, not just for some, but for everyone.” Those words for me are solid gold.

Dusky Dancer

© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.

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Dusky Dancer

Posted in damselfly, Insects, Macro Photography, Nature, Photography, Summer, wildlife, tagged , , , , , on July 22, 2021| 7 Comments »

Our weather recently has been hazy, hot, and humid and we have even had some smog that prompted an air quality alert yesterday as a result of fires in the western part of the United States. From a dragonfly perspective, we are in a kind of summer doldrums period, where the summer dragonflies have been buzzing around for quite some time, and it is too early for the autumn species to appear.

On Tuesday I went exploring in Prince William County and was delighted to spot this handsome Dusky Dancer damselfly (Argia translata) alongside a small stream. I think that this is only the second time that I have managed to photograph this species. Although many damselflies have touches of blue, the dark body and the distinctive markings near the tip of the abdomen (the “tail”) make this pretty easy to identify as a Dusky Dancer.

The rock on which the damselfly was perching is not a great background, but at least it draws the viewer’s eyes to the damselfly and is not at all distracting. Be sure to click on the image to see the wonderful details of the damselfly, including the blue markings on its body and its entrancing eyes.

Dusky Dancer

© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.

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Dusky Dancer damselfly

Posted in damselfly, Insects, Macro Photography, Nature, Photography, Summer, wildlife, tagged , , , , , on August 9, 2020| 24 Comments »

When it comes to damselflies, you often have to look closely for identifying marks, because so many of them are colored with variations of blue and black. I really could not identify the species of this little damselfly when I took this photo on Wednesday while exploring a creek in Prince William County. I decided that if he was willing to pose for me on a leaf, I was more than willing to take his picture.

When I pulled up the image on my computer, I immediately noticed some distinctive blue markings near the tip of the abdomen. Those markings helped me to  identify it as a male Dusky Dancer (Argia translata), a species that I had never before photographed.

We are still in a kind of summer doldrums period, where the summer dragonflies have been buzzing around for quite some time, and it is too early for the autumn species to appear. It is therefore pretty exciting for me to photograph a new species—I might have seen a Dusky Dancer in the past, but I am pretty sure that I was not able to capture an image, so in my mind it did not “count.”

Be sure to click on the image if you want to get a closer view of the distinctive markings and beautiful eyes of this cool-looking Dusky Dancer damselfly.

Dusky Dancer

© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.

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