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Posts Tagged ‘Tamron 180mm’

Friendly dragonfly

Posted in Dragonflies, dragonfly, Insects, Nature, Photography, Portraits, Summer, wildlife, tagged , , , , , , , on June 10, 2023| 1 Comment »

Usually I see Gray Petaltail dragonflies (Tachopteryx thoreyi) perched vertically on tree trunks, but this one perched horizontally on a fallen branch and stared at me after landing momentarily on my shoulder on Tuesday at Occoquan Regional Park in Lorton, Virginia.

I really like to get eye-to-eye contact with dragonflies—somehow it makes the encounter more personal and intimate. One of the consequences of shooting from this angle, though, is that much of the body of the dragonfly will be out of focus. I am ok with that and in fact it tends to pull the viewer’s eyes towards those bits that are in focus, particularly the dragonfly’s wonderful compound eyes.  Gray Petaltail

© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.

 

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Common Green Darner close-ups

Posted in Photography, Insects, Macro Photography, Nature, wildlife, Dragonflies, Summer, dragonfly, tagged , , , , , , on June 9, 2023| 8 Comments »

I am used to seeing Common Green Darner (Anax junius) dragonflies flying overhead, but on Tuesday I had the relatively rare chance to see one up close at Occoquan Regional Park. The Common Green Darner is a large, colorful dragonfly that is known for its long distance migratory flights. According to Wikipedia, “By attaching micro-radio transmitters to Common Green Darners, researchers have found them to be capable of migrating up to 140 kilometers in a day, though they typically cover less distance per day. ” Wow!

I spotted this dragonfly when I saw it fly to a perch in the vegetation just inches above the ground. I slowly made my way towards the vertically-perched Common Green Darner and surprisingly it did not move. I am not certain, but I had the impression that the dragonfly had newly emerged and was resting as its body parts dried out.

My 180mm macro lens gives you the impression that I was right on top of the dragonfly, but I was actually quite a bit farther away than it seems. After I took a few shots and moved away, the Common Green Darner remained in place. In fact, when I passed by the same area about twenty minutes later, it was still perched there.

I was thrilled by the amount of detail that I was able to capture. You can easily see the distinctive “bullseye” marking, for example, on the “face” of the dragonfly. The second image is a closer crop of the first image and it helps you to see some of the ommatidia, the thousands of faceted optical units that make up the dragonfly’s amazing compound eyes. You may want to click on the image to make it larger on your screen.

According to an on-line article called Dragonfly’s Eyes, “Dragonflies have very large eyes and have very good vision. Vision dominates their behaviour, including predation and looking for mates. The compound eye is made up of ommatidia which is a visual unit consisting of a lens system and a group of light sensitive cells. A large dragonfly may have up to 30,000 ommatidia in each compound eye. Each ommatidium collects one visual information, together form a mosaic image in the dragonfly’s brain. It is believed that the insects’ compound eyes are not as high resolution as vertebrate eyes. However, the dragonfly’s visual system is extremely sensitive to movement and it points in almost all direction and gives the 360 degree visual field.”

Common Green Darner

Common Green Darner

© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.

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Aurora Damsels

Posted in damselfly, Insects, Macro Photography, Nature, Photography, Summer, wildlife, tagged , , , , , on June 7, 2023| 3 Comments »

Last week I was delighted to spot several Aurora Damsel (Chromagrion conditum) damselflies as I was exploring a pond in Prince William County. I had seem some Aurora Damsels earlier in the spring, when they were newly emerged, but had not yet seen any mature adults.

According to the damselfly guide that I use for reference, Damselflies of the Northeast by Ed Lam, the genus Chromagrion “consists of a single species, the Aurora Damsel, a blue and black damselfly with bright yellow on the side of the thorax. It lacks eyespots and shoulder stripes and often perches with its wings slightly spread, unlike most members of its family” of Pond Damsels (Coenagrionidae).

As I have learned from photographing insects and birds, I rarely can capture all of the distinguishing features of a species in a single photograph. In the first photo, you can see the slightly-spread wings, the distinctive markings on the abdomen and thorax, and the lack of eye spots.  You cannot, however, see the bright yellow markings on the thorax. I like to think of these kinds of shots as “scientific,” because the entire body of the damselfly is in almost perfect focus.

I personally tend to be a little more fond of shots like the second image. The damselfly seems to be posing for me with its head slightly cocked and the background and the perch are creative parts of the image. The eyes of the damselfly are in focus, but most of the rest of its body is at least a little blurry. I like to think of this type of shots as “artistic.”

Most of my photography is a mixture of  the “scientific” and the “artistic” approaches. Sometimes the approach is dictated by the circumstance, e.g. when I have to react instantaneously, and sometimes the approach is a consequence of the creative choices that I have made in my camera settings or in composition or angle of view. The cool thing about photography is that it easily accommodates a wide range of approaches and I can be as geeky or artsy as I want to be at ay given moment.

Aurora damsel

Aurora Damsel

© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.

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Lancet Clubtail dragonflies

Posted in Dragonflies, dragonfly, Insects, Macro Photography, Nature, Photography, Summer, wildlife, tagged , , , , , , on June 6, 2023| Leave a Comment »

I was delighted to spot several handsome Lancet Clubtail dragonflies (Phanogomphus exilis) during a recent visit to Jackson Miles Abbott Wetland Refuge, my first sightings of this species this season. As you can see from these two photos, Lancet Clubtails like to perch flat on the ground and I spotted both of these near the edge of the pond.

I love the bright blue eyes of Lancet Clubtails and the yellow flange near the tip of the abdomen, a feature that helps to distinguish Lancet Clubtails from the visually-similar Ashy Clubtails. Some members of the Clubtail family have large and obvious “clubtails,” but the one on the male Lancet Clubtails is relatively small—you have to look at the proper angle to see it well. I like the way that the shadow in the first photo makes it easy to see the enlarged area near the end of abdomen that constitutes the “clubtail.”

Lancet Clubtail

Lancet Clubtail

© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.

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Poppy love

Posted in Art, Flowers, Gardening, Nature, Photography, Summer, tagged , , , , , , , , on June 5, 2023| 8 Comments »

I have always been fascinated by the color and texture of the centers of poppies and was delighted to see poppies in several different colors during a recent visit to Green Spring Gardens in Alexandria, Virginia, just a few miles from where I live. The tissue-paper texture of the petals quite unusual, reminding me of my childhood craft projects with tissue paper and crepe paper—we may even have created our own poppies.

Even when their petals have faded and fallen away, poppies continue to fascinate me (and birds love their seeds) and I really like the look of their seed pods, like the one in the final photo.

poppy

poppy

poppy

poppy

© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.

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Can you spot the dragonfly?

Posted in Dragonflies, dragonfly, Insects, Nature, Photography, Summer, wildlife, tagged , , , , , , , on June 4, 2023| 7 Comments »

Can you spot the dragonfly in the first photo? Let me give you a clue—the large dragonfly is in the center of the image. Can you see it now?

Some dragonflies are easy to see, because of their bright colors or the way that they perch in the open on prominent stalks of vegetation. Others are a bit harder to see, because they perch on the ground or in dense vegetation (or they fly continuously and rarely seem to land).

The Gray Petaltail dragonfly (Tachopteryx thoreyi) is a bit of an anomaly—it perches in the open, but is still very hard to spot. Why? Its gray and black coloration is an almost perfect match for the rough bark of the trees on which it usually perches vertically. In the past I have watched a Gray Petaltail fly to a tree and perch and had trouble seeing it, even though I knew exactly where it was.

Last Wednesday I spotted my first Gray Petaltail of the season as I was exploring a small pond in Prince William County, Virginia. I had seen this dragonfly species at this location several times to the past, so I was carefully scanning the trunks of trees on which they sunlight was shining directly—Gray Petaltails seem to prefer direct sunlight, especially earlier in the day.

I often have to rely on movement to see dragonflies that are so well camouflage, but amazingly I spotted the dragonfly in the first photo while it was still perched. I cropped the image and made a few tweaks to make it a little more visible for you, but it was so tough to spot that I had to creep closer and look from a different angle to make sure that my eyes were not playing tricks on me.

For the second and third shots, I moved around the tree in an effort to better isolate the dragonfly from the tree. I think that approach worked especially well in the final photo in which the dragonfly had raised its wings a bit. Suddenly the Gray Petaltail was much more visible. I chose my angle carefully to try to get a bit of the sky in the photo—I was shooting at an upward angle—and I really like the way that the background came out in the final image.

Gray Petaltail

Gray Petaltail

Gray Petaltail

© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.

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Orchard Orbweaver spider

Posted in Arachnids, Macro Photography, Nature, Photography, spiders, Summer, wildlife, tagged , , , , , on June 3, 2023| 8 Comments »

Some people get creeped out by spiders, but many of them are quite beautiful, like this tiny Orchard Orbweaver spider (Leucauge venusta) that I spotted on Wednesday in Prince William County. The sun was shining brightly on the shiny body of the spider, so I underexposed the image intentionally, which is why it looks so dark in the photo—the background was green in real life. I was also leaning my lens against a branch for stability, since even the slightest movement at such close range can blur an image.

Orchard Orbweavers are really common where I live, but I suspect that most people do not look closely enough at them to see their beautiful colors. According to the LSU AgCenter, “Orchard spiders are .13 to .3 inches (3.5 to 7.5 mm) in length, with females typically larger than males.” I believe that the aforementioned measurements are for the body alone and do not include the legs.

In addition to capturing some of the beautiful colors of the Orchard Orbweaver, I was thrilled to capture a look at the web of the spider. These webs are much smaller and compact than the webs of some of the larger orbweaver spiders in our area, which is a good thing, because many of these webs seem to be built across paths and I often run into them face-first.

Orchard Orbweaver

© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.

 

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Snakes in the water

Posted in Reptiles, Nature, wildlife, Summer, snake, tagged , , , , , , on June 2, 2023| 2 Comments »

Our recent warm weather has brought out all kinds of creatures, including Northern Water Snakes (Nerodia sipedon). On Wednesday I spotted my first Northern Water Snake of the day as I was sitting on a rock, taking a break alongside a stream. When I spotted it, the snake was swimming vigorously downstream and the first photo captured some of the sinuous movement of the snake’s body. I lost sight of the snake as it approached a series of cascades and was not able to see how the snake handled them

Later that same day I spotted another snake at a small pond. This Northern Water Snake had hidden its body in the debris at the edge of the pond, with just its head visible above the water. This snake was alert and seemed to be in a hunting mode, so I kept my distance and watched the snake carefully as I took the second shot below. Although I know that Northern Water Snakes are not venomous, I remember reading that their bites are painful and that their saliva contains an anticoagulant that causes bites to bleed profusely.

Northern Water Snake

Northern Water Snake

© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.

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Flying over the pond

Posted in Dragonflies, dragonfly, Insects, Nature, Photography, Summer, wildlife, tagged , , , , , , , on June 1, 2023| 2 Comments »

Several Common Baskettail dragonflies (Epitheca cynosura) were patrolling over the pond at Jackson Miles Abbott Wetland Refuge last Thursday and I spent a lot of time trying to capture images of one of them as they zoomed by me. I made attempts with both my 180mm macro lens and my 18-400mm zoom lens, sometimes using focusing manually and sometimes using auto focus. Needless to say, there is also a lot of luck involved in getting a somewhat sharp photo of a dragonfly in flight

I spent a lot of time trying to track the dragonflies. They didn’t exactly fly in a pattern, but they seemed to have a territory that they were patrolling, so they came by me at irregular intervals. In the first two shots below, I was able to get a bit of the habitat in the photo, but most of the time I was focusing solely on the dragonfly and there is nothing in the background but the somewhat muddy water of the pond.

I was happy that I was able to get some shots from a number of different angles. In some of the shots, the dragonfly was flying by me, but in other cases I manage to capture images in which the dragonfly was flying towards me or away from me. The angle was often dependent on the speed with which I was able to acquire my target in the viewfinder of my camera and successfully track it as I tried to focus on it—hand-t0-eye coordination is critical.

I used to think that it was impossible to get shots like these. It has gotten a little easier over time as I have gained experience, but it still is pretty hard. No matter how skilled I get, patience and persistence are still the most critical factors in this type of photography.

Common Baskettail

Common Baskettail

Common Baskettail

Common Baskettail

© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.

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Violet Dancer damselflies

Posted in damselfly, Insects, Nature, Photography, spring, wildlife, tagged , , , , , , , , , on May 31, 2023| 2 Comments »

Some of you may have noticed that the banner photo for this blog shows a beautiful purple damselfly, one of my favorite insects. The intense purple is really striking and is not a color that I seen very often when I am looking for wildlife to photograph. The official species name for the damselfly is Variable Dancer (Argia fumipennis), though I prefer to use the colorful and descriptive name of its most common subspecies, the Violet Dancer (Argia fumipennis violacea).

Last Thursday I was delighted to spot numerous Violet Dancers in the vegetation along the edge of a small pond at Jackson Miles Abbott Wetland Refuge.  I even managed to photograph one on the trail surrounding the pond, as you can see in the first photo in which the damselfly is perched on a small stone. For the other two shots, I was much farther away from the damselfly. These damselflies like to perch on vegetation that overhangs the water, so I shot from a distance to avoid slipping into the pond, which has happened on occasion in the past.

Violet Dancer

Violet Dancer

Violet Dancer

© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.

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Confrontational damselfly

Posted in damselfly, Insects, Macro Photography, Nature, Photography, wildlife, tagged , , , , , , on May 30, 2023| 5 Comments »

This little damselfly is called an Orange Bluet (Enallagma signatum). Yes, the name is confusing and seems to be a bit of an oxymoron. Most bluets have various patterns of blue and black on their bodies, but surprisingly there are also bluets that are patterned predominantly in red, orange, yellow, green or black. The male Orange Bluet adopted a seemingly confrontational pose and stared right at me as I prepared to photograph him last Thursday at Jackson Miles Abbott Wetland Refuge—maybe he felt the need to defend his territory.

I would have liked to have captured an eye-to-eye shot, but was afraid of scaring away the damselfly if I bent down closer to it, so took the shot from a downward angle. Although a substantial part of the Orange Bluet’s body is out of focus in this image, I think the shot worked out ok, owing largely to the fact that the damselfly’s eyes were in focus. The curve of the stalk on which it was perched was a nice bonus and added some visual interest to the shot.

Orange Bluet

© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.

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Slender Bluet damselflies

Posted in damselfly, Insects, Nature, Photography, spring, wildlife, tagged , , , , , , , on May 30, 2023| 5 Comments »

Last Thursday I was delighted to spot some Slender Bluet (Enallagma traviatum) damselflies at the small pond at Jackson Miles Abbott Wetland Refuge, my first sighting of this species this year. Although this species is quite small—about 1.2 inches (31 mm) in length—I managed to get a shot of a Slender Bluet in flight, as well as several shots of Slender Bluets perched in the vegetation at the edge of the pond.

Many of the summer species of dragonflies and damselflies have now reappeared and I will be focusing a lot of my attention in the upcoming months on highlighting the beauty of these amazing aerial acrobats.

Slender Bluet

Slender Bluet

Slender Bluet

© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.

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Hitching a ride

Posted in damselfly, Insects, Macro Photography, Nature, Photography, spring, wildlife, tagged , , , , , on May 27, 2023| 2 Comments »

I did not get a close enough look at it to identify its species, but a teneral damselfly decided to momentarily hitch a ride on my pant leg last Wednesday at Green Spring Gardens in Alexandria, VA. A teneral damselfly is one that has only recent emerged and is therefore pale and does not yet have its full adult coloration.

It turns out that a 180mm macro lens is less than optimal for a selflie, even of my leg—I could not get far enough away to include the whole damselfly in the frame. The only other alternative is for me to become a lot more flexible, which at my age does not seem very likely.

teneral damselfly

© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.

 

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Zabulon Skipper butterfly

Posted in Butterflies, Insects, Macro Photography, Nature, Photography, spring, wildlife, tagged , , , , , on May 27, 2023| 5 Comments »

There are lots of different species of skipper butterflies in my area and it is hard for me to tell them apart. I spotted this beautiful little butterfly last Wednesday at Green Spring Gardens, just a few miles from where I live. I think that it is a Zabulon Skipper (Poanes zabulon), although it might possibly be the similar-looking Peck’s butterfly. I’d like to say that there is a scientific reason why I chose Zabulon over Peck’s, but it really is because I think that Zabulon is the cooler name of the two—I love the exotic sound of the word “Zabulon.”

I tried to get down to eye-level with the butterfly when I photographed it so that the background would fall away into a pleasant green blur and was largely successful. I like too that I was able to capture some of the green striations in the leaf on which the butterfly is perched and those little lines help to lead the viewer’s eyes to the butterfly.

Zabulon Skipper

© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.

 

 

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White butterfly, pink flower

Posted in Butterflies, Flowers, Insects, Macro Photography, Nature, Photography, spring, tagged , , , , , , on May 26, 2023| 1 Comment »

This tiny Cabbage White butterfly (Pieris rapae) paused for only a moment on a pink flower, but I managed to get a shot of it on Wednesday at Green Spring Gardens. If you look closely, you can just make out the butterfly’s stunning green eyes.

The composition of this image is pretty simple, but I think it is effective. I would have liked to blur out the background a bit more, but even though it is cluttered, it is not distracting. I think that is because the pink and white are so bright and distinctive that they “pop” against the green background.

Cabbage White

© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.

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Bee tongue

Posted in Bees, Flowers, Gardening, Insects, Macro Photography, Nature, Photography, spring, wildlife, tagged , , , , , , on May 26, 2023| 3 Comments »

On Wednesday at Green Spring Gardens, a county-run historic garden just a few miles from my home, I got a really good look at this bee’s proboscis, the long, straw-like tongue that it uses to collect nectar. From my angle, it looked more like a deadly weapon. Yikes! As you can probably tell, I have switched to using my macro lens most of the time now that the warmer weather has caused more insects to reappear.

One of my friends on Facebook named this bee the “Gene Simmons” bee, because it reminded him of an iconic pose by the singer from the band KISS in which his extended tongue reached to the tip of his chin. It is hard to know if it is true, but according to urban legend, Simmons had his tongue insured for a million dollars during the 1970’s, when KISS was at its height of popularity. The popular rumor at the time that he had a cow’s tongue grafted onto his own, however, has been disproven.

bee tongue

© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.

 

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Azure Bluet damselfly

Posted in damselfly, Insects, Macro Photography, Nature, Photography, spring, wildlife, tagged , , , , , , , on May 22, 2023| 7 Comments »

I photographed this damselfly on last Wednesday at Occoquan Regional Park in Northern Virginia. The pattern of black and blue markings on the damselfly’s abdomen was unfamiliar to me. The closest I could come when comparing it with photos in my identification guide was a female Azure Bluet (Enallagma aspersum), but identification of bluet species can be tricky, since almost all of them are black and blue and you have to look really closely to distinguish one from another.

I posted the photo in a Facebook group dedicated to dragonflies and damselflies in Virginia and was a little shocked when one of the experts in the group confirmed my tentative identification. As far as I can recall, this is a new species for me, which makes this sighting even more special.

Azure Bluet damselfly

© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.

 

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Eastern Pondhawks

Posted in Dragonflies, dragonfly, Insects, Nature, Photography, Portraits, spring, wildlife, tagged , , , , , , on May 19, 2023| 2 Comments »

I was delighted on Wednesday to spot my first Eastern Pondhawk (Erythemis simplicicollis) dragonflies of the season while I was exploring the trails at Occoquan Regional Park. As we progress into summer, this species will become quite abundant, but it is always a joy to spot these little beauties.

Females, like the ones in these photos, are bright green in color and have a banded abdomen. I did not see any males that day, but they start out with coloration similar to that of the females and then gradually transition to having a blue abdomen and a blue and green thorax. Both genders have green faces, which, along with their coloration, make them easy to identify.

I love the way that the green spring foliage matches the colors of an Eastern Pondhawk and provides a beautiful backdrop for them, as you can see in these photos.

I will be away in the mountains this weekend on a church retreat, so will probably not be posting for the next few days. I will have my camera with me, though, so you may see a few photos from my adventures there in upcoming blog postings.

Eastern Pondhawk

Eastern Pondhawk

© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.

 

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First Ebony Jewelwing of the season

Posted in damselfly, Insects, Macro Photography, Nature, Photography, spring, wildlife, tagged , , , , , , on May 18, 2023| 2 Comments »

Yesterday I spotted my first Ebony Jewelwing damselfly (Calopteryx maculata) of the season while exploring at Occoquan Regional Park in Lorton, Virginia. As far as I know, this is the only damselfly in our area with completely dark wings, so it is a pretty easy species to identify.

Most of the time I spot Ebony Jewelwings in the shadowy vegetation along small streams, but this one was perched in the open. Perhaps it was enjoying the warmth of the spring sunshine.

I am not sure why the eyes of this damselfly appear to be red, because most of the time the eyes of male Ebony Jewelwings are darker. Perhaps the reddish coloration is a result of the angle of the light or maybe it is related to the age of the individual and will darken as he grows old.

Ebony Jewelwing

© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.

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Pink Lady’s Slipper orchids

Posted in Flowers, Nature, Photography, spring, tagged , , , , , , on May 12, 2023| 19 Comments »

I was thrilled earlier this month to spot a dozen or so Pink Lady’s Slippers (Cypripedium acaule) as I exploring a creek in Prince William County, Virginia. Most of them were growing individually, but there were a few small clusters of these beautiful native orchids.

I have seen these flowers several times in previous years, so I had a general idea of where to look for them, but when I set out on the hike to search for them, I was not certain that my timing was right—it was a bit earlier than I had seen them in past years. I had to walk for several miles to get to this location and initially I could not find any lady’s slippers. Eventually I spotted a single one and was really happy. All of the sudden I started seeing them in multiple spots and was able to capture a variety of images.

I am fascinated by the shape of these flowers and my first instinct was to move in close and capture macro shots to highlight the details of the flower by isolating it from the background, as you can see in the first three images. When it came to groupings of flowers, though, the background could not be eliminated. That turned out to be a blessing in disguise, because I was “forced” to show the environment in which I found the flowers—I have a tendency to forget to take these kinds of shots in my zeal to zoom in. As it turns out, the last image is one of my favorites, though I must admit that the first image in my absolute favorite of these photos.

Pink Lady's Slipper

Pink Lady's Slipper

Pink Lady's Slipper

Pink Lady's Slipper

Pink Lady's Slipper

© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.

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Puddling swallowtails

Posted in Butterflies, Insects, Nature, Photography, spring, wildlife, tagged , , , , , , on May 11, 2023| 2 Comments »

I usually think of butterflies drinking nectar from colorful flowers. Sometimes, though, newly emerged Eastern Tiger Swallowtails (Papilio polyxenes) will gather around  mud puddles or other damp spots—a behavior often referred to as “puddling”—to suck minerals and other substances out of the damp ground, like these butterflies that I spotted in early May alongside a creek in Prince William County, Virginia.

Butterflies were constantly moving in and out of a small group that seemed to be concentrated at one particular spot. As I was taking this shot, a new arrival “photobombed” me. I really like the motion blur of the arriving butterfly, which gives the image a dynamic feel and also a bit of whimsy. The second shot is a close-up view of one of the butterflies as it extracted nutrients from the moist area.

“Puddling” behavior is mostly associated with male butterflies.  According to an article at the Thoughtco website, “Nectar lacks some important nutrients the butterflies need for reproduction. For those, butterflies visit puddles. By sipping moisture from mud puddles, butterflies take in salts and minerals from the soil. This behavior is called puddling, and is mostly seen in male butterflies. That’s because males incorporate those extra salts and minerals into their sperm.”

Eastern Tiger Swallowtail

Eastern Tiger Swallowtail

© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.

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Macro damselfly

Posted in damselfly, Insects, Macro Photography, Nature, Photography, spring, wildlife, tagged , , , , , on May 6, 2023| 8 Comments »

I love to use my macro lenses. There is something almost magical about capturing details on tiny subjects, like this Fragile Forktail damselfly (Ischnura posita) that I spotted this past Monday alongside a pond in Prince William County, Virginia. Fragile Forktails are only about an inch (25 mm) in length, so I had to get pretty close to my subject to “fill the frame,” even with my 180mm macro lens.

One of the biggest challenges when I get this close to a subject is that my depth of field is really shallow, so I risk having a lot of my subject out of focus. In fact, in the majority of my photos of this damselfly, either the eyes or the tip of the abdomen is in focus, but not both. In this kind of situation, the “trick” to having the entire subject in focus is to position myself so that the sensor of my camera is parallel with the plane of the subject.

In this image, you can see that about the only things in focus are the damselfly and the edge of the leaf on which it was perched—the rest of the image is pleasingly blurred. This approach works pretty well with damselflies, which hold their wings above their bodies when perched, but does not work as well with dragonflies, which perch with outstretched wings. As a result, portions of the dragonflies in most of my photos are blurred, though I usually give top priority to keeping their eyes in focus.

Fragile Forktail

© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.

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Varying backgrounds

Posted in Dragonflies, dragonfly, Macro Photography, Nature, Photography, spring, wildlife, tagged , , , , , , , , , on May 3, 2023| 2 Comments »

As I was reviewing my photos of the past couple of weeks, I was a little surprised at the number of shots that I have taken of Blue Corporal (Ladona deplanata) dragonflies in wildly varying environments. Blue Corporals are an early-season species and won’t be around for too much longer, so I am happy to have had the opportunity to observe so many of them. Most of the time, Blue Corporals like to perch flat and, judging from the photos, it doesn’t seem to matter if there are rocks, vegetation, or even lily pads.

From the perspective of a naturalist, I like the way that the different photos give you a feel for the environments in which I found these dragonflies. As a photographer, I was also struck by the way that the colors and textures of the background interact with the subjects. Most of the backgrounds in these shots are somewhat cluttered, but I did my best to use framing and focusing techniques to keep the background from being too distracting.

If I had to make a choice, I would say that the first photo is my favorite of the Blue Corporal images. I love the juxtaposition of the dragonfly with the varied textures, shapes, and colors of the rocks. I also really like the way the background grows progressively more blurry towards the top of the image. Do you have a favorite?

Blue Corporal

Blue Corporal

Blue Corporal

Blue Corporal

© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.

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Eastern Forktail damselflies

Posted in damselfly, Macro Photography, Nature, Photography, spring, wildlife, tagged , , , , , , on April 25, 2023| 2 Comments »

Yesterday I went exploring in Accotink Bay Wildlife Refuge, a nature preserve on the grounds of Fort Belvoir, a nearby US Army installation. I did not see many dragonflies, but was happy to spot some Eastern Forktail (Ischnura verticalis) damselflies. These damselflies are quite small—about an inch (25 mm) in length—and have distinctive blue markings near the tips of their abdomens.

Many damselflies have combinations of black and blue on their bodies, so identification can often be difficult. Usually I start by looking at the body and deciding if it is primarily black, as was the case here, primarily blue, or somewhere in the middle. After that, I examine the shape of the markings at the tip of the abdomens and compare them with the pictures in my damselfly identification guide.

Somehow, though, I always have more problems with damselfly identification that I do with dragonfly identification. Fortunately I am part of several Facebook groups that have experts who can weigh in when I need help in identifying a particular damselfly.

Eastern Forktail

Eastern Forktail

Eastern Forktail

© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.

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Amorous Tailed-blue butterflies

Posted in Butterflies, Insects, Macro Photography, Nature, Photography, spring, wildlife, tagged , , , , , on April 22, 2023| 7 Comments »

I don’t know much about the courting behavior of Eastern Tailed-blue butterflies (Cupido comyntas), but the male at the bottom of the photo was actively pursuing a female when I photographed them on Wednesday in Prince William County. Eastern Tailed-blues are tiny butterflies, with a wingspan of about an inch (25 mm), so you have to look really closely to see the single narrow tail on each hind wing. When their wings are closed, Eastern Tailed-blues are mostly grayish0-white in color, so it was a real visual treat to be able to capture them with their wings open.

Eastern Tailed-blue

© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.

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Jack-in-the-Pulpit

Posted in Art, Flowers, Gardening, Photography, spring, tagged , , , , , , on April 22, 2023| 13 Comments »

What is the most unusual-looking flower that you have ever seen? For me, it would probably be the Japanese Jack-in-the-Pulpit (Arisaema sikokianum). There is something so alien and exotic about this plant that it stopped me in my tracks when I first spotted it last year in early May at Meadowlark Botanical Gardens in Vienna, Virginia. Check out my posting from last year if you would like more details of my first encounter with this plant species.

On Thursday I made a trip the botanical gardens with my friend and photography mentor Cindy Dyer. She was interested in photographing the tulips, peonies, and other flowers, but I made a beeline for the area where I had seen the Japanese Jack-in-the-Pulpit last year. Initially I could not find any, but I asked several of the folks working in the garden beds and one of the walked me to an area where there were two plants that were well past their prime.

As we were talking, another gardener overheard us and noted that she had spotted one further up the trail earlier in the week. I walked really slowly and looked carefully and eventually found the correct spot—there was one wilted Japanese Jack-in-the-Pulpit and one in bloom. The two photos below give you a sense of the beauty of this unusual plant. As you can probably tell, I varied the settings on my camera to give a different feel to each of the images. Although the first image provides a clearer view of the entire plant, I really like the moody feel of the second shot.

The Japanese Jack-in-the-Pulpit is closely related to the Jack-in-the-pulpit (Arisaema triphyllum), which is supposed to be common to the eastern United States, though I have never seen one. The American species looks fairly similar to the Japanese variant, but the spadix, the part that is the “Jack” in the name, is darker in color and the pitcher more closely matches the leaves. If you want to see a beautiful photo of a Jack-in-the-Pulpit growing wild in New England, check out this blog posting by fellow photographer Steve Gingold.

Japanese Jack-in-the-Pulpit

Japanese Jack-in-the-Pulpit

© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.

 

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Fishing spider in April

Posted in Arachnids, Macro Photography, Nature, Photography, spiders, spring, wildlife, tagged , , , , , on April 18, 2023| 6 Comments »

Most of the time fishing spiders have some of their legs in the water to sense the vibrations of potential prey, but the large Six-spotted Fishing Spider (Dolomedes triton) that I spotted last Friday in Prince William County was perched on a log at the edge of a small creek. When I posted the photo on Facebook, one of my friends noted that he often finds fishing spiders far from the water, including in his wood pile.

I do not know how large this spider was, but it looked huge to me. Perhaps that is because the spider had all of its legs fully extended, unlike some spiders whose legs are partially bent when they are in a web.

Six-spotted Fishing Spider

© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.

 

 

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Stream Cruiser in April

Posted in Dragonflies, dragonfly, Insects, Nature, Photography, spring, wildlife, tagged , , , , , on April 17, 2023| 1 Comment »

Different dragonfly species perch in different ways. Some perch high and some perch low; some perch horizontally, others perch at an angle, and others hang vertically.  I am always intrigued to look at the way a dragonfly is perched and, in particular, to see how the dragonfly is using its legs.

Last week I was delighted to spot a male Stream Cruiser (Didymops transversa) while I was exploring the edge of a creek in Prince William County, Virginia. The Steam Cruiser was perched low in the vegetation at an angle. Stream Cruisers have such long legs that they look somewhat uncomfortable when they are perching.

If you click on the image below, you can get a closer look at the dragonfly’s legs. The dragonfly does not seem to be using its front legs at all to perch and appears to be relying almost exclusively on its middle set of legs. The back set of legs look to be amazing long and are probably more useful for capturing prey than for perching.

Stream Cruiser

© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.

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Spring dragonflies in flight

Posted in Dragonflies, dragonfly, Insects, Nature, Photography, spring, Video, wildlife, tagged , , , , , , , , , , on April 16, 2023| Leave a Comment »

It is almost impossible, but I can’t help but try to capture images of dragonflies in flight. It is arguably the most difficult challenge of my ability to use my camera and also of my patience. None of the dragonflies in these photos flew close to the shores of the streams that I was exploring in Prince William County, Virginia, and I was using only a modest telephoto lens that I was focusing manually—the autofocus on my Tamron 180mm macro lens is relatively slow and could not focus on the dragonflies as they zoomed on by.

Last Wednesday I photographed the dragonfly in the first photo as it was patrolling over a creek. I believe that it is a Uhler’s Sundragon dragonfly (Helocordulia uhleri), which is about 1.8 inches (46 mm) in length. The dragonfly was not exactly following a pattern, but I was able to track it as it flew all around a small section of the creek.

The dragonfly in the second image may also be a Uhler’s Sundragon, though I am less confident of this identification. I really like the fact that the eyes of the dragonfly are in shart focus. It is probably just my imagination, but this dragonfly seemed to glance up at me and smile as it flew on by. In this photo, as in the first one, you really have a sense of the environment in which I found the dragonfly.

I captured the final image on Friday as I was exploring a different creek in Prince William County. The dragonfly in this photo was much larger than the ones in the other photos and was flying much faster and seemed to be conducting patrols over a much longer stretch of the creek. All the image was not completely sharp, I captured enough details to be able to identify it as male Stream Cruiser (Didymops transversa) dragonfly, a species that is about 2.2 inches (56 mm) in length.

Last year I did a short video on YouTube called Impossible Shots? Dragonflies in Flight in which I talked about one of my forays into the field and highlighted my approach to photographing dragonflies. Check it out if you want to see some more shots of dragonflies in flight or if you simply want to hear my voice and see my face. I included a link to the video in the title of the video (which should appear in color and underlined) and am also going to try to paste it into the end of posting, so you don’t have to go to YouTube to watch it. I am still just dabbling in video, but want to try to do more of it this year.

Uhler's Sundragon

Uhler's Sundragon

Stream Cruiser

© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.

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Blue Corporal dragonflies

Posted in Dragonflies, dragonfly, Insects, Macro Photography, Nature, Photography, spring, wildlife, tagged , , , , , , , on April 14, 2023| 4 Comments »

On Monday I was thrilled to photograph my first dragonfly of the year at Occoquan Bay National Wildlife Refuge, the location that I visit most frequently with my camera. The first prize goes to an immature male Blue Corporal dragonfly (Ladona deplanata)—males turn blue as they mature, but initially they have the same coloration as the females. Blue Corporals of both genders have two light-colored stripes on the front of their thoraxes, the traditional rank military insignia for corporals.

Later in the day I spotted a female Blue Corporal perched on some dry leaves, as shown in the second photo. Can you spot the differences between the dragonflies in the first and second photos? The male abdomen tends to be a bit thinner than the abdomen of the female. However, the biggest difference is in the terminal appendages, i.e. the specific parts at the very tip of their abdomens (their “tails”).

The following day I returned to the refuge and spotted another Blue Corporal perched in some vegetation—I think it is another immature male. Most of the time Blue Corporals like to perch on the ground, but this one looked like it had only recently emerged and may have been waiting for its wings to harden.

When dragonflies undergo their metamorphosis from water-dwelling nymphs to aerial acrobats, their wings are initially very clear and fragile and the creatures are very vulnerable, so I was careful not to disturb the dragonfly when I took a few photos. If you are interested to learn more, check out a 2016 blog posting  Metamorphosis of a dragonfly in which I documented the entire transformation process of a Common Sandragon dragonfly in a series of 15 photos. At the end of that series you will be able to see why I characterized the wings of a newly-emerged dragonfly as “fragile.”

Blue Corporal

Blue Corporal

Blue Corporal

© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.

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Mayapple blooming in April

Posted in Flowers, Gardening, Nature, Photography, spring, tagged , , , , , on April 13, 2023| 3 Comments »

Mayapples (Podophyllum peltatum) are strange plants. Most of the time they grow in colonies and each plant has a stalk and a single umbrella-shaped leaf. Occasionally, though, the stem will branch off and there will be two leaves. In those cases, a single flower may emerge at the intersection of the two branches of the stem.

According to the Wisconsin Horticulture website, “The nodding, white to rose-colored flowers appear in April or May. Each flower is 2-3 inches wide, with 6 light green sepals, 6 to 9 waxy petals, and twice as many stamens with white filaments and yellow anthers. Although the flowers are quite showy, they are short-lived and usually hidden by the leaves. The flowers are fragrant, variously described as pleasant to putrid and are visited by bumblebees and other long-tongued bees.”

Yesterday I spotted a flowering Mayapple plant as I was exploring the area surrounding a creek in Prince William County, Virginia. I have been seeing Mayapple plants for the last couple of weeks as I have been searching for dragonflies, but this is the first one that I have seen in bloom this spring. You have to get pretty low to the ground to spot the flowers, and it was a bit of a challenge getting this shot.

There is something whimsical about a flower that has its own dual umbrella to provide it with shade—I can’t help but smile whenever I spot a Mayapple in bloom.

Mayapple

© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.

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