Photographs by Frank

31 July 2011

Robberfly with Prey

Filed under: Other Insects,The "New" Yard & Environs — Frank @ 12:24 PM

One never knows when opportunity will come knocking.

This morning, I was inside paying the bills and Joan was outside weeding and watering her flower bed. At about 10:15, I heard Joan call and given past experience, I came running camera in hand!

I surmised correctly! My wildlife-spotter-in-chief had discovered a robberfly with a bee! The insect took a couple of minutes after my arrival to settle down in a rhododendron right next to our deck and begin to eat.

Once it did, I could approach to the close focus distance of the ode rig and I began to work the angles in order to get a good (i.e. uncluttered) background. I took 94 frames in just over a half hour looking for variety in the background (via changes in angle and aperture) and in behavior.

Here are three images including another one those random events that occur in nature. The second bee in the last image could not have been in the area for more than 10 seconds; I have two frames (including this one) that include it. The first two images are cropped to about half of the original frame; the third image is about two-thirds of the original frame.

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Around the Yard

Filed under: Odontates,Other Insects,The "New" Yard & Environs — Tags: , , — Frank @ 12:00 PM

Yesterday morning, I spent a couple of hours roaming the yard with camera (rigged for odes)  in hand.

I was amazed at the variety of odes (and other insects) to be found. I captured images of ten different species including a twelve-spotted skimmer, a dragonfly that I had not seen before.

All-in-all a successful morning!

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29 July 2011

July Odes

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

Between the recent heat wave and a hectic life, I have not done much photography (or blogging) in the past few weeks.

The first set of photos were taken the weekend of 16 and 17 July. I took a very hot and buggy hike at the McCabe Forest on Saturday. On Sunday, I took a kayak out and spent the afternoon at camp.

Just back in the woods, along the Contoocook River at McCabe Forest, there were many female ebony jewelwings feasting away on the abundant mosquitoes. I did not see a single male anywhere. Along the lake at camp there was quite a variety of odes with  variable dancers seemingly the most abundant.

Here are the photos:

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Yesterday evening Joan and I took a canoe ride over to camp. I was probably too late in the day for good ode watching but I did manage to find and photograph two different species of clubtails.

I was a little surprised at the lack of vesper bluets which, I think, were beginning to appear by late July in years past.  I guess that I’ll just have to go back again!

The frog (an immature bullfrog, I think) in the first photo was on the beach as we arrived.

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14 July 2011

Sunday Morning

Filed under: Odontates,The "New" Yard & Environs — Frank @ 12:13 PM

I spent last Sunday morning wandering the yard with the camera. I began, as usual, stalking dragonflies and got a couple of nice photos of “Sunday Morning Odes”:

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At some point, I noticed the brightly colored petunias that Joan has growing in some of the planters around the yard. Thus, I took the extension tube off of the odonate rig and allowed myself to be distracted by the petunias.

Then I remembered the bouquet of flowers (cut from their garden) that our neighbors had brought over with an invitation to chat the previous day. I brought those out to the picnic table to photograph using a Strobist approach (i.e. put the camera in manual mode and use the shutter speed to “dial in” the desired ambient exposure (i.e. the background); then use the aperture (and flash power) to get the proper exposure on the subject).

Here are the “Sunday Morning Florals”:

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The first two images are more-or-less straight photos. The remaining images were processed using the Topaz Adjust set of filters and certainly represent an “altered reality”. My intent (other than just having fun) with these  images was to emphasize the texture of the flowers rather than their extremely bright colors. Note that the sixth and seventh images are actually the same frame just processed differently.

Comments appreciated!

9 July 2011

Swamp Romp

Filed under: Odontates,Other Insects,The "New" Yard & Environs — Frank @ 6:00 PM

Yesterday was a cool gray (heavy overcast) day which usually means low activity for odonates. Nevertheless, I donned my green wellies, added a layer of woodsman’s cologne and  headed down to the beaver swamp behind the house about 3:30 PM.

When I arrived a spent some time at the edge of the woods watching both the small patch of open water and the large patch of wet grassy marsh without seeing any activity. Eventually, I spied a dragonfly patrolling the open water. Deciding to brave the swamp proper, I headed off into the grassed and sedges lying between me and the open water.

As I moved though the waist- to chest-high grasses, I stirred up all sorts of insects that must have been just “hanging out” conserving energy. There were at least three species of damselflies present. I also stirred up two teneral meadow hawks (I only got photos of one though).

Lesson learned… observation form a distance tells only a small part of the story; one needs to immerse  oneself in the environment to get the “complete” story.

There were also two different type of moths present —  a small orange one and an even smaller cream colored one — no photos of the latter as they pretty much stayed down near the ground where the tangle of vegetation makes it impossible to get a clear line of sight.

After photographing critters among the grasses, I finally arrived at the edge of the open water where I spent some time watching two or three dragonflies (all the same species I think, but exactly which one, I can not say!) patrolling and hunting. Not once did I see any of them perch so there was no possibility of photographs.

As the afternoon wore on, the ode activity diminished. It was about six o’clock when I called it quits.

So here are the “keepers”:

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The first image is one of those “accidents” where I pushed the shutter release just as the critter took off… most of the time I get a frame containing a wonderful study of a twig or blade of grass (which I promptly delete)! This time my timing luck was better. What do folks think? Is it interesting enough to keep?

8 July 2011

Ebony Jewelwings at Loveren’s Mill

Filed under: Nature Conservancy properties,Odontates — Tags: — Frank @ 6:00 PM

Yesterday (i.e. Thursday) afternoon I headed to Loveren’s Mill, a nearby Nature Conservancy property. In previous years I had found ebony jewelwings to be common along the river there and I was not disappointed on this trip. The numbers of individuals was not large but they were, by far, the most common species present. Interestingly, I saw only males.

I also noted an occasional dragonfly out cruising over the river but they were too far away and moving too fast to identify much less photograph. I was surprised by the lack of odes on my walk back to the cedar swamp. Often there are darners in the woods and other dragonflies along the road but I saw none this trip. I did see one small brown damselfly on the boardwalk that extends out in to the swamp but the photograph I got is uninteresting.

Around six, I headed back to the truck as the mosquitoes were beginning to get bothersome. Whether it was the hour or the fact that my “woodsman’s cologne” (i.e. ” bug dope”) was wearing off I can not say… most probably a combination of the two!

At the edge of the parking area I noticed two ebony jewelwings actively feeding on mosquitoes and spent some time photographing them. Of course, the mosquitoes were also actively feeding…on me!

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The First Week of July

Filed under: Odontates,Other Insects,wildflowers — Tags: , , , — Frank @ 12:00 PM

The first week of July saw photographic opportunities during an afternoon on Gregg Lake, a late afternoon kayak jaunt on a nearby beaver swamp and around the yard.

The most common, by far, odes on the Lake that afternoon were lancet clubtails. I also saw (but did not get photographs of) a couple of damselflies, including one variable dancer.

The beaver swamp was teeming with two species: frosted whitefaces and swamp spreadwings. The flowers were also found in the swamp.

The butterfly was very interested in nectaring on the flowers in Joan’s garden and kept returning despite my scaring it off a number of times.

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5 June 2011

Three Days in June

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

Late afternoon, say 4:30 or 5:00, is a good time to stalk dragonflies… the critters are active and the light is good (coming at fairly low angle). Thus, each of the the past two afternoons, I’ve headed out to photograph — Friday afternoon found me at the beaver swamp at the back of our property and Saturday afternoon found me at an old log yard about a quarter mile up the road from the house. On both days, I stayed out until the mosquitoes got too bad. This was also about the same time that the light began to deteriorate as the sun started to dip below the trees… roughly 6: 30.

The beaver swamp was teeming with common baskettails actively feeding; there were dozens out over the grassy areas of the swamp. They spend most of their time in flight but as the sun began to go down and things cooled off, they began to settle down some. There were also a few chalk-fronted corporals present.

At the log yard, I prowled the edge of the opening which is usually the most productive area of a clearing in the woods. The most common, by far, species present was the chalk-fronted corporal with numerous individuals of both sexes present. There were also a few clubtails as well as a small number of female common whitetails present.

This series of photos begins with a couple of shots of  a Rosy Maple Moth that was hanging around on a bush in the yard on Thursday… a very odd looking critter! The next image is moth which I noticed in the woods on my way down to the beaver swamp.

The photo (which is about half the original frame) of the chipmunk was taken as I was headed to the log yard. I had stopped to photograph a dragonfly on the stone wall along the road when I noticed this “fellow” watching me from the top of the wall a few yards away. I was able to get the extension tube off the camera and the lens back on in time to get two shots before he decided that he had seen enough!

Warning… photography talk! For those that are interested an extension tube is placed between the camera and the lens to allow one to focus at the closer distance than the “bare” lens does. The downside is that you lose the ability to focus on distant objects. Thus when I am set up to shoot dragonflies (see this post for the details) the camera is pretty much useless for anything else.

Anyway, here are the images:

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2 June 2011

Memorial Day Weekend Odonates – Part Two

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

Sunday morning found us doing chores around the house. But after I finished mowing the lawn and erecting posts for the pea fence in the garden, I spent some time hunting dragonflies around the yard. There were at least four different species present.

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In the afternoon, we put the canoe in the lake and headed down to camp. I lucked in to a swallowtail nectaring on some flowers right at our beach and it stayed put long enough for me to get the camera ready and take about half-dozen shots before it disappeared.

As for dragonflies, there were numerous individuals of the frustrating kind (a small clubtail of some sort, I think) cruising the lake… I call them frustrating since they never seem to land and thus are next to impossible to photograph.

A brief walk in the woods along the lake shore yielded another (as yet unidentified) dragonfly and a small green moth that was perfectly camouflaged sitting on the frond of a fern. I only noticed it because it flapped its wings exactly once.

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Monday afternoon we headed back to camp for another jaunt. The frustrating species was present in good numbers over the lake and I discovered a dragonfly carcass entangled in a spider web in the bushes at the edge of the lake.

Most of my photographic time was spent in a small clearing just off the the lake which has been very productive in years past. The productivity was also good this day. The number of individuals was small but there were three or four species present. I’m still working on the identifications… this is not my strong point!

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Memorial Day Weekend Odonates – Part One

Filed under: Odontates — Tags: — Frank @ 10:00 AM

After a cool and damp start to May here in southern NH, the first dragonflies of the season seem to have emerged all at once during the past week or so.

The two little girls who live next door wait for the bus down by the bridge across the inlet to the lake.  Last Thursday morning they noticed dragonflies emerging on fence while waiting for the bus. Alerted to their observation (by their dad), I headed down to the lake on Friday morning arriving about eight o’clock. This was almost too late! Most of the individuals were already fully emerged and in the process of drying.

There seemed to be numerous individuals of one species (I am unsure of its identity) and a very few individuals of a second species (chalk-fronted corporal, I think).

Here are the keepers from the morning:

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