dragonfly

One Afternoon Six Critters /  by Todd Henson

Sometimes I’ll go hiking with one primary goal, such as checking on the pink lady’s slipper orchids, but I end up finding many other subjects, as well. I love those days, when nature just seems to jump out at you and yell, “Hey, look at me!” And of course, I listen. 😀

Below is a collection of six different critters I happened upon one afternoon while out hiking.

Common Whitetail Dragonfly

Common whitetail dragonfly

Dragonflies are back. I just love watching and trying to photograph them. I was only carrying my 105mm macro lens, so I didn’t have a lot of reach, but with a little patience I was able to capture one image of this dragonfly when it rested on a log nearby before flying off once again because I was too close.

Six-spotted Tiger Beetle

Six-spotted tiger beetle

Six-spotted tiger beetle. For this photo I used multiple images to create an unplanned focus stacked image with more depth of field than any of the individual shots.

These are very distinctive beetles and fairly easy to see on a sunny day because their metallic green body really shines and they move around very quickly. Motion and color are two of the elements that help me find subjects and this beetle has both. They are usually very skittish and run or fly off when I get too close, which is usually too far away for a decent photo. But in this case I managed to approach one slowly enough, and was actually able to shade it with my shadow so the bright sun didn’t cause glaring reflections on the metallic body. These are fascinating beetles.

Speckled Renia Moth

Speckled Renia moth

This is a very small moth, one I see around quite often but am rarely able to approach close enough as they either blend in so well I don’t see them or they flit off before I get close enough for a photo (this seems to be a common theme). But I happened to see the motion of this one as it flew in front of me and noticed where it landed. So I got down on my knees, slowly approached it and managed to capture this view.

Eastern Fence Lizard

Eastern fence lizard from above

The side of an eastern fence lizard

Another skittish creature that often blends in well with its surroundings is the eastern fence lizard. This particular one has lost its tail, which is usually much longer. It didn’t seem to notice me when I happened to be right beside it while it was on the side of a downed tree so I was able to capture a nice closeup with the macro lens. I then tried to slowly move above it to get a side view but only captured this one image before it turned its head, saw me, and ran off.

Eastern Tailed-blue Butterfly

Eastern tailed-blue butterfly facing left

Eastern tailed-blue butterfly facing right

This is a very small butterfly, another that I’m rarely able to approach close enough. But as happened a lot on this trip I was able to approach it slow enough to capture a couple images while it rotated itself on the rock it had landed on. This one doesn’t have much of the tail from its name. I don’t know if it wore off, or perhaps this is a young one, or they vary from individual to individual, or I’ve completely mis-identified the species.

Black-and-gold Flat Millipede

Black-and-gold flat millipede all straightened out

Black-and-gold flat millipede moving over some leaves

I found this millipede directly in front of me on the trail making its way across it. Thankfully I was able to capture some photos that are reasonably sharp despite the motion. I love the colors on this one. I don’t know if I’d seen this species before, but have now seen a couple more since then.

Have you ever seen any of these critters? What did you think of them?

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Late Morning With Skimmers /  by Todd Henson

A late morning skimmer

One subject I always enjoy photographing are the many species of dragonfly seen throughout the area. And one challenge, at least for me, is later trying to identify them. It’s quite a learning experience.

I found these dragonflies near the intersection of two paths at a local wildlife refuge on a late June morning. It was actually late morning, almost 10 am, and I was on my way back out of the refuge. But I spotted these beautiful yellow-orange skimmers flying back and forth between perches in a small field on a slight slope. They were far enough from the background I was able to completely blur it out. My focal length was 550 mm, which also helped in blurring the background. I set my aperture to f/8 to try capturing enough of the dragonfly in focus, but you can see the focus was still shallow enough the ends of the wings and “tail” (its segmented abdomen) are out of focus. I do like the look this gives, though.

“Good morning, Skimmer!”

After poring over many online resources, I believe the subjects of today’s photographs are Needhman’s Skimmer Dragonflies (Libellula needhami), but if you believe differently please leave a comment letting me know what you think they are and how you could tell. The Needham’s are in this area, and the coloration and patterns seem to fit. The other species it resembles is a Golden-winged Skimmer, but I believe there are enough indicators to favor Needham’s.

Some of the indicators include the coloration of the lower legs (tibia), the coloration of the front edge of the wings (the Costa vein), and the patterns and coloration of the front portion of the thorax. Based on the overall coloration of the dragonfly I suspect these were female and/or juveniles.

Below are the resources I used in my attempts at ID’ing the species:

And finally, I converted one photo to black and white to showcase the interesting patterns of the wings, one of which is partially missing. Seeing something like this always leaves me wondering what might have happened. Did it narrowly escape becoming the meal of something, and if so what? A bird? A reptile? It would have been interesting to see.

What happened to this dragonfly’s wing?

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Great Egret - Field Notes Update /  by Todd Henson

Great Egret in flight against clear blue sky. Available for purchase.

A couple months ago I was fortunate enough to photograph a pair of Great Egrets in a wetlands park. One of the pair was displaying late-season breeding plumage, always a beautiful sight. Another photographer and I stood and watched this pair for perhaps half an hour or more. Both of us had hoped to capture some images of either of the pair fishing, but that didn’t happen this time.

Profile of Great Egret

Great Egret preening

Great Egret plumage

Great Egret eating a dragonfly

I did, however, capture an image of something I’d never seen before: a Great Egret catching and eating a dragonfly. I noticed the egret looking intently in a particular direction. All I could see in that direction was a dragonfly perched on a branch. I didn’t think the egret would notice a dragonfly, but sure enough, it stretched out its neck and snatched the dragonfly in it’s beak, munched it a couple times, then opened its beak and swallowed what was left.

I was also waiting to see if either egret would take flight. I love capturing images of birds in flight, and Great Egrets can be beautiful in flight. They have a large wingspan and usually fold up their neck, making it look much shorter than it is. I did manage to capture a few nice images when the egrets took flight. One image shows an egret against the water with a fallen tree in the background, and two others show the egret almost directly overhead against a clear blue sky. I love how the wings are backlit in these images, showing details of the features. Beautiful birds. I look forward to the next time I have the opportunity to photograph Great Egrets.

Great Egret flying low over wetlands pond

Great Egret flying almost directly overhead against clear blue sky

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