I had not been down to the beaver swamp behind our house for a few weeks so, a couple of days ago I donned “swamp gear” (long sleeve shirt, green “wellies” and a heavy coat of insect repellent) and headed off for a few hours.
As expected there were many meadowhawks (the exact species I can not say), lots of small damselflies along the edge of the open water and lots of large darners cruising over both the water and the wet meadow.
On the way down to the swamp I noticed a bee of some sort on a daisy-like flower and got a couple of shots of them while experimenting with a stack of two extension tubes. I went quickly back to my usual single (36 mm) tube as the stack make for very difficult focusing… the zone is very narrow, probably too narrow for hand holding.
When I got to the swamp I finally got a photo of a darner (they are some of the largest, showiest dragonflies) perched on a tree. These critters have been a great source of frustration as I see them often cruising their territories, but they rarely perch and when they do they are in poor locations for photography. This time, I got a number of shots as I closed the distance between “him” and I but, as always happens the critter flies off eventually.
As I looked up from the viewfinder to see if I could locate him again, I was greatly surprised to find that he had landed on the right side chest pocket of my shirt! Of course, he was way too close to get a shot of there but I watched him for a minute or two before brushing him off.
The other “big finds” for the day were two mating pairs of meadowhawks (within about a dozen feet of each other) deep in the grasses of the meadow. Getting an unobstructed shot was a challenge. I also a pair of spreadwings flying in tandem (whether pre- or post-mating, I do not know).
The meadowhawks all seemed to be the same species (to my un-expert eye); there are two or three species that the books say are difficult/impossible to distingush without having caught them. The darner will need a bit of work to identify as I an not, at all, familiar with this group. Finally, I think that the spreadwings were spotted spreadwings but again, that is my un-expert opinion.
Anyway, here are the images:
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Amazing! These are among your best. The detail and positioning is incredible. Guess who will NOT be submitting images at SBCC Nature this year????
Comment by Just Joe — 8 August 2011 @ 8:57 PM