After I finished “Big Red” on Saturday morning, I spent some time poking around the yard with the camera. There were many darners about and they would infrequently perch in one of our apple trees, usually too high up for a good photograph. These darn darners are always an exercise in photographic frustration. They are, however, fun to watch! I did get one decent darner photo.
There have been small numbers of autumn meadowhawks (of both sexes) in the yard over the past few days. One female allowed me to make exactly three frames of her obelisking before she went on her way.
Another unusual sight in the yard was a mating pair of Eastern Forktails. This seems a little late in the season for mating behavior in this species. More unusual was to find them mating in our yard which is a quarter mile from water (the beaver swamp in one direction and the lake in the opposite direction).
In the afternoon on Saturday, I headed over to camp with Joan, Katrina and Joan’s cousins Suzy and Lyle. While they swam and chatted, I cruised, with camera in hand, the lake shore near camp. The slatey skimmer was very cooperative and posed for me until I decided that I was done. I can not say the same for the clubtail (which allowed me only the one frame) and the orange bluet (two frames) before they flew off. I had never seen an orange bluet on Gregg Lake before.
I ended the day with the vesper bluets under close to ideal conditions (calm and in good light). This species prefers to alight on lily pads and other vegetation in water that is too deep to wade, thus one needs the kayak. They also, as the “vesper” in their name suggests, only come out at the end of the day; as the light starts to wane.
For most of the time I was out, there were no vesper bluets around. However, as the shadows grew longer more and more appeared, seemingly out of “thin air”. There were mostly males about; I would estimate 10-20 males for every female. The few females I observed were already paired up and either flying in tandem or in a mating wheel. I saw no ovipositing behavior while I was out… it was probably too early in the evening.
Single male vesper bluets very aggressively attack paired females trying to get them to un-pair from their chosen mate. This behavior is difficult to photograph but great fun to watch live.
Here are the photographs (the first four from the morning and the second four from the afternoon):
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Breathtaking pics Frank. The last one of the vesper bluets mating wheel on the lily pads and their reflections is wonderful. I will have to zoom on the thoracic stripes on the darner to see if its Aeshna canadensis. Hard to see if there is a yellow spot there.
Thanks so much
K
Comment by Kevin — 26 August 2013 @ 9:43 PM
As usual I am impressed with the images and the nomenclature. Obviously you and Kevin speak an entirely foreign language to me. The Slatey Skimmer took top honors for me! Maybe, it was the name that put it over the top? It appears to have it all – detail, color, non-distracting background.
If it’s Tuesday, you are not working, er no???
Comment by Just Joe — 3 September 2013 @ 4:59 PM