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Posts Tagged ‘Wickford Park’

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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Looking for a good angle…

Posted in Dragonflies, dragonfly, Insects, Nature, Photography, Summer, wildlife, tagged , , , , , , , on June 23, 2025| 7 Comments »

It is hot! It seems that much of Europe and the United States is currently experiencing sweltering heat. Here in Northern Virginia where I live, high temperatures are going to hover around 100 degrees (38 degrees C) each day this week. I might consider going out with my camera when there are heat advisories, but today there are extreme heat advisories and people are advised not to go out in the heat unless absolutely necessary.

This morning I went over my photos from an outing earlier this month and recalled my thought process when I was taking photos of Common Sanddragon dragonflies (Progomphus obscurus). I was trying to frame the shot in a way that showed the dragonfly’s face and body with an interesting background, which was a bit frustrating, because the Sanddragons tended to perch at the edge of the water facing the water.

I changed positions repeatedly and eventually I got the shot that I was imagining in my head. I love how the green of the dragonfly’s eyes matches some of the mossy vegetation and how the yellow and brown body matches the stones. The dragonfly also seems to be looking up at me and smiling, though I suspect that may be my imagination.

Stay cool and hydrated this week if you have to go outside this week!

Common Sanddragon

© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.

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Common Sanddragon dragonflies

Posted in Dragonflies, dragonfly, Insects, Nature, Photography, Summer, wildlife, tagged , , , , , , on June 21, 2025| 3 Comments »

I spotted these male Common Sanddragon dragonflies(Progomphus obscurus) on 11 June alongside a creek at Wickford Park, a small suburban park in Alexandria, Virginia. As their name suggests, Common Sanddragons prefer sandy beaches over the kinds of vegetation where many other dragonflies most often perch.

The Common Sanddragons were pretty skittish and would fly away as I approached, but would frequently return to “their” beaches a short time later. Most of the time, they would face the water, which made it problematic to get a side shot. However, one perched on a leaf a bit farther from the edge of the water and I was able to capture the first image below, my favorite image of the day.

You may notice that the Common Sanddragons in the photos have their abdomens (their “tails”) raised. I think that may be their normal way of perching or it may be a variation of the obelisk pose used by other species to regulate their body temperature by reducing the amount of their bodies exposed to the direct sunlight.

Common Sanddragon

Common Sanddragon

Common Sanddragon

© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.

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Variable Dancer (immature)

Posted in damselfly, Insects, Nature, Photography, Summer, wildlife, tagged , , , , , , , on June 20, 2025| 6 Comments »

Variable Dancers (Argia fumipennis) are one of my favorite damselflies, as you may have guessed if you have seen the banner page of my blog that features a photo of a gorgeous violet-colored Variable Dancer. Technically there are three subspecies of Variable Dancers, but I think that all of the ones that I see in my area are members of the subspecies Argia fumipennis violacea, the Violet Dancer.

Last week I spotted several male Variable Dancers at Wickford Park in Alexandria, Virginia, as you can see in the second photo below, so I knew that they lived in that habitat. I was a bit confused, though, when I spotted the damselfly in the first photo and initially could not identify it. After poring over my reference guides and searching for the internet, I realized that the damselfly was probably an immature male Variable Dancer. Many immature male dragonflies and damselflies change colors as they mature, but this color change is particularly striking.

Today is the summer solstice for those of us in the Northern Hemisphere, officially marking the beginning of summer. (Technically it comes this evening at 10:42 where I live.) Happy Summer to all of you in the north and Happy Winter to those of you in the Southern Hemisphere.

Variable Dancer

Variable Dancer

© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.

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Ebony Jewelwing damselfly

Posted in damselfly, Insects, Nature, Photography, spring, Summer, wildlife, tagged , , , , , , , on June 16, 2025| Leave a Comment »

I spotted my first Ebony Jewelwing damselflies (Calopteryx maculata) of the year last week during a short visit to Wickford Park, a small suburban park with a creek that runs through it. Members of this species have distinctive dark wings and are generally found in shaded streams where the mixed lighting makes it challenging to photograph them.

Female Ebony Jewelwings have small white patches (known as pseudostigmas) on their wings that along with their terminal appendages make them easy to identify. The damselflies in these two photos are both female. I am not sure why the eyes of the damselfly in the first photo are so red in appearance—perhaps it is a result of the angle of the light or maybe it is related to the age of the individual. Whatever the case, the red eyes give the damselfly a devilish look.

Ebony Jewelwing

Ebony Jewelwing

© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.

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First Slaty Skimmer of 2025

Posted in Dragonflies, dragonfly, Insects, Nature, Photography, spring, Summer, wildlife, tagged , , , , , , , on June 14, 2025| 5 Comments »

On Wednesday I visited Wickford Park, a small suburban park a few miles from where I live that has a creek that flows through it. In the past I have spotted a variety of dragonflies and damselflies at this location and once again I was rewarded with some new sightings.

I was pleasantly surprised to spot a male Slaty Skimmer (Libellula incesta), the first one that I have seen this year. During the summer, Slaty Skimmers are quite common at a number of the locations that I visit. The dark slate blue of the mature males of this species and their brown eyes make this species pretty easy to identify.

I thought about cropping this image closer to give a better look at the dragonfly, but decided that I really liked the twisting vegetation on which the dragonfly was perched and ultimately decided to keep the crop loose. What do you think?

Slaty Skimmer

© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.

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Common Sanddragon dragonfly

Posted in Dragonflies, dragonfly, Insects, Macro Photography, Nature, Photography, Summer, wildlife, tagged , , , , , , , on July 8, 2023| 3 Comments »

I was thrilled on Wednesday to photograph my first Common Sanddragon dragonfly (Progomphus obscurus) of the year as he was enjoying a sandy beach near Wickford Park in Alexandria, Virginia. Unlike most dragonflies that prefer to perch on vegetation, Common Sanddragons are usually found perched flat on the sunny, sandy sections of shallow creeks.

According to the Dragonflies of Northern Virginia website, “Despite its name, this species is rare in Northern VA. In other parts of the country, where clean, sunny, shallow creeks with plenty of sandy/gravely banks are common, so too are Common Sanddragons. Our urban waterways are too influenced by stormwater, flowing fast and unchecked off impervious surfaces (roads, parking lots, roofs, etc.). This creates deeply incised, eroded banks and streambeds, with excess silt, unstable flows.”

This species is special to me because I was the first person to document its presence at Huntley Meadows Park, a county-run marshland park where I used to do a lot of my photography before it became overcrowded with photographers. Check out my June 2014 blog posting New dragonfly species in the park for the details of how I stumbled upon this “new” species.

Common Sanddragons are also special to me because in June 2016 I was lucky enough to observe and document the thirty minute metamorphosis of a water-dwelling nymph into a Common Sanddragon dragonfly. I had been collecting some discarded exoskeletons of already emerged dragonflies on a sandy bank of a stream when suddenly I felt one moving in my hand. I quickly placed it on the sand and was able to photograph the dragonfly as it was emerging. It was a remarkable encounter and I encourage you to check out my blog posting Metamorphosis of a dragonfly.

Nothing quite that exciting happened during my most recent encounter. I was able to capture some images of the dragonfly on various parts of the “beach” where I initially spotted him. He was pretty skittish and flew away multiple times, but kept returning to the same general are of the creek, sometimes choosing the sandy areas and sometimes opting for the more rocky spots. I particularly like the first photo that has a mixture of rocks and sand and has some green algae that matches the stunning eyes of this Common Sanddragon.

 

Common Sanddragon

Common Sanddragon

Common Sanddragon

© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.

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Sanddragons in June

Posted in Dragonflies, dragonfly, Insects, Macro Photography, Nature, Photography, Summer, wildlife, tagged , , , , , , on June 15, 2021| 4 Comments »

I was happy yesterday to spot several Common Sanddragon dragonflies (Progomphus obscurus) while exploring a creek that runs through a small suburban park in Fairfax County, only a few miles from where I live. Unlike many other dragonflies that like areas with vegetation, this species prefers sunny, shallow creeks with sandy or gravelly banks.

Quite often Common Sanddragons will perch flat on the sand or with their abdomens raised a little or even a lot, as shown in the third image. The third image is quite unusual, because it shows a Common Sanddragon perched off of the ground and away from the water. When I first spotted the dragonfly perched on that dead branch, I had to look really closely to convince myself that it was in fact a Common Sanddragon. Fortunately, male Common Sanddragons have bright terminal appendages, known as cerci, at the tip of their abdomens that make them easy to identify.

Common Sanddragon

Common Sanddragon

Common Sanddragon

© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.

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Common Sanddragon in July

Posted in Dragonflies, dragonfly, Insects, Nature, Photography, Summer, wildlife, tagged , , , , , , on July 17, 2020| 7 Comments »

I tend to associate dragonflies primarily with marshes and ponds, but a few dragonflies also like sandy beaches. Most of the times that I have observed Common Sanddragon dragonflies (Progomphus obscurus) they have been perched directly on the sandy edges of forest streams, which makes sense, given their name. On Monday I was thrilled to spot some Common Sanddragons at Wickford Park, a small park adjacent to Huntley Meadows Park, a marshland refuge where I used to do a lot of shooting before it became too popular.

Although the dragonfly in the first image may look like he was perched on the ground, he was actually on the slanted side of a concrete drainage ditch. Normally I try to avoid man-made backgrounds for my subjects, but this shot provided a good overall view of the entire body of the Common Sanddragon. It might be my imagination, but it looks to me like this little guy was glancing up at me and smiling. Double-click on the image and see what you think.

In many ways I prefer the second shot, with the Common Sanddragon dragonfly perched amidst the rocks at the edge of the stream. I love the different colors, shapes, and textures of the rocks and don’t mind that the dragonfly itself is harder to spot. I consider the image to be a kind of environmental portrait.

 

Common Sanddragon

Common Sanddragon

© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.

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On the beach—Common Sanddragon

Posted in Dragonflies, dragonfly, Insects, Nature, Photography, Summer, wildlife, tagged , , , , , , , on June 21, 2018| 3 Comments »

Summer officially starts today and if you are like many people, your summer plans may include a trip to the beach. I tend to associate dragonflies with marshes and ponds, but a few dragonflies also like sandy beaches. It’s not too likely that you will encounter them at an ocean beach, but if you spread out your towel at the sandy edge of a stream, perhaps you might see a Common Sanddragon (Progomphus obscurus).

Common Sanddragons like to perch flat on the sand and transform themselves from water-dwelling nymphs to dragonflies in the open on the sand, rather than attaching themselves to vegetation as do many other dragonfly species. (If you want to see that amazing metamorphosis documented in a series of photos, check out this blog posting, Metamorphosis of a dragonfly, from two years ago.)

I have begun to recognize the kind of habitat that Common Sanddragons prefer and spotted my first one of the year last weekend on the banks of a small stream in Northern Virginia that I was exploring. That dragonfly is featured in the first two photos below. The very next day, I spotted some more Common Sanddragons at a stream in a local park where I had seen them in previous years. The third photo, which gives you a good view of the body of a Common Sanddragon, is from the second day.

This little series of shots illustrates one of the basic dilemmas that I face when photographing dragonflies. Should I try to capture a bit of the personality of this little creatures, which usually means direct eye contact, or should I try to give the clearest possible view of the entire body of the dragonfly, which usually means a side view? Fortunately, I am sometimes able to get both types of shots, but I am instinctively drawn more to shots like the second one below than to ones like the third image.

Common Sanddragon

Common Sanddragon

Common Sanddragon

© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.

 

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Milkweed Tiger Moth caterpillar

Posted in Insects, Macro Photography, Nature, Summer, tagged , , , , , , , , on July 17, 2017| 14 Comments »

What in the world is that? That was my initial reaction when I spotted a mass of black, orange, and white fibers sitting atop a milkweed plant leaf. As I moved closer, I changed my mind and decided it was probably a cocoon. I was shocked when it started moving and I realized that it was a strange-looking caterpillar.

When it comes to finding insects, milkweed plants are one of my favorite locations. There are all kinds of bugs and butterflies that make their homes on these plants and I make a point to explore them whenever I find them growing. These particular milkweeds were growing in a wooded area of Wickford Park, a small park adjacent to Huntley Meadows Park, the marshland location where I shoot many of the photos featured in this blog.

After photographing the single caterpillar, I stumbled across a whole family of them devouring a leaf on a another milkweed plant. I didn’t know the species of the caterpillar, but it was easy to do a search on the internet, because I could identify the host plant. I learned that this is a Milkweed Tiger Moth caterpillar (Euchaetes egle), also known as a Milkweed Tussock Moth caterpillar.

 

Milkweed Tiger Moth caterpillar

Milkweed TIger Moth caterpillar

© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved

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On the beach with a dragonfly

Posted in Dragonflies, dragonfly, Insects, Macro Photography, Nature, Photography, tagged , , , , , , on July 1, 2017| Leave a Comment »

Yesterday I was thrilled to spot some Common Sanddragon dragonflies (Progomphus obscurus) at Wickford Park, a small park adjacent to the normal marshland park where I do a lot of my shooting. This species, one of my favorites, prefers to perch on the sandy shores of a creek more than on vegetation and the spots at Huntley Meadows Park where I have seen them in the past are underwater at present, so I have not been able to find them there.

Common Sanddragon

© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.

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Green Heron portrait—light and shadows

Posted in Birds, Nature, Photography, Portraits, wildlife, tagged , , , , , on August 1, 2015| 14 Comments »

The Green Heron (Butorides virescens) was mostly in the shadows yesterday as I observed him at the edge of a small stream. When he bent down, his face was briefly illuminated and I managed to capture this action portrait with a fascinating interplay of light and darkness.

Green Heron

© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.

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Drama in a macro shot?

Posted in Dragonflies, Insects, Macro Photography, Nature, Photography, wildlife, tagged , , , , , , , on June 10, 2015| 14 Comments »

As a wildlife photographer, I sometimes wonder what it would be like to be a studio photographer. Imagine being able to control the intensity and direction of the light, to choose my own background, to have a responsive subject, and to be able to move around and carefully compose images in my viewfinder. What if there were no wet grass or thorns or mosquitoes or ticks? Perhaps a studio photographer has a sense of control—a wildlife photographer lives in a world of unknowns, never knowing for sure exactly when and how a shooting opportunity will present itself nor how long it will last.

This is the time of the year when I focus my attention and my camera on tiny subjects and dragonflies and damselflies are among my favorites. Some of them are pretty accommodating subjects and will perch and pose, though many are elusive and hard to capture.

I sometimes struggle with the question of how to create cool and dramatic shots of these beautiful little creatures. How do I capture then in action, especially when I am so often using a macro lens and shooting at close range?

I wish I had an answer to these questions, a magical formula that would guarantee great results, but, of course, I don’t. Sometimes, though, things do come together and magic happens. That’s what I felt this past Monday when I was out looking for dragonflies. I was crouched on the wet sand trying to get some shots of a Common Sanddragon dragonfly, when a female Ebony Jewelwing damselfly (Calopteryx maculata) landed a few feet in front of me and began to oviposit in the vegetation at the edge of a small stream.

I was at a good distance to use the 180mm macro lens that I had on my camera. The lighting and background were beautiful. My subject was isolated, but there was enough of the environment in the foreground to give a sense of the location (and the green of the moss was wonderful).

Is it possible to create a dramatic macro action portrait with a two inch (50 mm) subject? For me, it’s rare that I am able to pull it off, but I’d like to suggest that it does happen and offer this image as evidence.

I go out with my camera with the hope that situations like this will arise in the uncontrolled environment in which I like to operate. I live for those moments.

Ebony Jewelwing

Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.

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