Photographs by Frank

16 June 2016

Inundation of Calico Pennants

Filed under: Monadnock Region,Odontates,Summer,The Yard — Tags: — Frank @ 12:00 PM

The last few days has seen our yard inundated with calico pennants. They spend most of their time down low in the grassy parts of the yard. One can often see a dozen or more in one field of view.

They are all yellow right now…meaning that they are either immature males or females. Some will be changing to the orange-red of mature males over the next week or so. Then they will disappear… back to the water to mate and oviposit.

In addition to the calico pennants, in the past couple of days, I have seen (and photographed) chalk-fronted corporals (very common), American emeralds (a couple of individuals), a single delta-spotted spiketail and lancet clubtails (common). I have also seen (but have not photographed) small numbers of frosted whitefaces.

Damselflies are also present in small numbers but I have not been paying too much attention to them given all of the dragonflies… I guess that I should though!

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12 June 2016

A Cool and Cloudy Afternoon

Filed under: Amphibians,Birds,Mammals,Summer,The Yard,Wildlife — Tags: , — Frank @ 1:58 PM

Yesterday was cool (it never reached 60 deg. F), cloudy and damp (there were sporadic showers in the morning)… in other words the odes were not flying. Thus, I turned my attention (and lens) to birds and I staked out the feeders for a few hours in the afternoon.

The damp weather brings out the red efts and yesterday was no exception. There were half a dozen in the small patch of lawn behind the house.  As usual there were chipmunks and squirrels scavenging what they could from the bird feeders.

The usual feeder birds were present, among them were a female rose-breasted grosbeak, a male goldfinch and a number of tufted titmice. None of which presented themselves well for photography.

Also present (and photographed) were what seem to be a pair of downy woodpeckers, a hairy woodpecker, at least one male ruby-throated hummingbird and a lone turkey.

The turkey has been a regular visitor to our yard for the past few weeks. I’m no expert, but I would hazard a guess that it is either a female that did not nest or a immature male looking for a territory.

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5 June 2016

Backyard Odes – 4 June 2016

Filed under: Odontates,Summer,The Yard — Tags: — Frank @ 11:00 AM

Yesterday (4 June), while we were eating lunch, I noticed a ode (probably a Hudsonian Whiteface) hunting from a perch at the edge of the deck. After we finished eating, I picked up the camera and headed out to see if I could make a photograph of the “lunch-time ode”.

I did not find our lunch companion. However, two hours later I headed back to the house looking for a drink! I never  left our yard.

In that interval, I saw (and photographed) six species of dragonflies: four-spotted skimmer, spangled skimmer, American emerald, lancet clubtail, chalk-fronted corporal, and Hudsonian whiteface. The first three of these were my first observation of those species for the season.

Oddly, I saw no damselflies while I was out.

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1 June 2016

Memorial Day Odes

Filed under: Monadnock Region,Odontates,Other Insects,Summer,The "New" Yard & Environs — Tags: , , — Frank @ 4:00 PM

In the afternoon, on Monday (30 May, Memorial Day), I spent about three hours (about 1:45 to 4:45) hunting odes. I never got beyond maybe three hundred feet from the yard and was able to photograph nine different species of dragonflies and damselflies… and one grasshopper!

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30 May 2016

Lakeshore Odes

Filed under: "Camp",Monadnock Region,Odontates,Summer — Tags: — Frank @ 1:00 PM

We had a sneak preview of summer on Saturday. The temperature hit 90 deg. F, the sun was unrelenting and the humidity around 70%. Ugh!

Mid-afternoon, found us in the kayaks and headed to camp. There were two species of dragonflies (a clubtail, probably the lancet clubtail, and a darner) on the wing and patrolling the lake shore. Not once did I observe any of these individuals perched… thus I have not photos!

Exploring the vegetation along the shore was more productive. In a span of roughly 300 feet of shoreline, I found six dragonflies entangled in spider webs and three exuvia (all looking to my un-expert eye) like the same species).

The exuvia are not unexpected this time of year. However, the density of entangled dragonflies is exceptional. Odes entangled in spider webs are not rare, but the usual density (during the peak of the summer) is closer to one in five hundred feet

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2016 Ode Season Begins

Filed under: Odontates,Summer — Tags: , — Frank @ 12:00 PM

Small numbers (one or two at a time) of odes have been appearing in the yard for the past couple of week. In the last three or four days the numbers have jumped.

Yesterday afternoon (with the weather overcast and the temperature not reaching 70 deg F) found about a dozen dragonflies (a mix of Hudsonian Whitefaces and Chalk-fronted Corporals) perched on our deck while trying to stay warm.

All of these photos were made within a hundred yards of the house and in the past five days.

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9 September 2015

Abstracts and Cattails

Filed under: Landscapes,Summer — Tags: — Frank @ 3:00 PM

Yesterday found Joan and I in our kayaks on the Connecticut River in Hinsdale, NH. Joan was hunting rare plants and I photographs.

The weather was partly sunny and as long as the sun covered, not too hot. The thermometer in the car read 92 oF as we headed home in the mid-afternoon.

The abstracts are a collaboration.

For the first four photographs, a long gone graffiti artist applied paint to a concrete bridge abutment. Weather and time did their job. I framed and “captured” the final work.

My collaborator in the final work was mother nature. She provided an iron oxide stain on a rock just at the waters edge.

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Joan’s survey site was near a number of large beds of cattails along the riverbank,  I had an enjoyable time trying to find interesting photographs where plant emerges from water. (Being low to the water in a kayak enforces a certain viewpoint.)

I also looked for photographs along other parts of the riverbank, but was only satisfied with one.

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7 September 2015

Brimstone Corner Road

Filed under: Monadnock Region,Odontates,Summer,wildflowers — Tags: , — Frank @ 12:30 PM

Yesterday afternoon, I made a right at the bottom of our driveway and headed out on a short stroll on the unmaintained section of Brimstone Corner Road. I was expecting to find both meadowhawks and asters. I was not disappointed.

I saw about six meadowhawks in total, including a single red (i.e. male) individual. The others were yellow… i.e. either females or immature males and hard to tell apart without netting them. My guess is that they were autumn meadowhawks but, again without netting them, it is hard to be certain. These were the only odes I saw.

There were many asters along the roadside; mostly the small white type that grows in large clusters. However, there were scattered larger, more deeply colored types mixed in here and there.

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Juvenile Ruby-throated Hummingbirds

Filed under: Birds,Monadnock Region,Summer — Tags: , — Frank @ 12:00 PM

For the last few weeks, we have had many juvenile ruby-throated hummingbirds in the yard near the feeder and flowers. They seem to come in groups of three or four feeding and flying around.

The juveniles also seem to perch near the feeders much less frequently than did the adults, especially the males, did earlier in the summer. The juveniles prefer perches higher up and farther away from the feeder than the adults. The flight of the juveniles also  has a much more “playful” character than that of adults.

All of this is, I imagine, tied into to territoriality. The adults were protecting “turf” by perching near the feeders and flying to drive away interlopers. The juveniles are eating and flying around in a “pack” at breakneck speed just for fun.

When they return next spring, this summer’s juveniles will be as “serious” the adults were a couple of months ago.

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28 August 2015

The American Rubyspot

Filed under: Odontates,Summer — Tags: — Frank @ 11:00 PM

This afternoon, I made the two and a half hour round trip to Athol, Massachusetts to photograph the American Rubyspot.

The section of the Millers River just upstream from where Route 2A crosses the river at the western edge of the downtown business district in Athol is a hot spot for this uncommon damselfly. The southern part of Case Meadow Conservation Area lies along one bank of this stretch of river and parking is available at the Millers River Environmental Center; both make for easy access.

I spent just over an hour from first to last frame exposed. I saw around a dozen and a half rubyspots including two females at two spots along the river bank. I also observed a few large dragonflies (darners most likely) out over the river. I also saw a few darners flying in the meadow on the walk back to the truck.

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