Photographs by Frank

16 August 2011

Around the Yard on Sunday Morning

Filed under: Odontates,Other Insects,The "New" Yard & Environs — Tags: , , , — Frank @ 12:05 PM

I spent a bit of time on Sunday morning roaming the yard with my macro lens (a 90 mm Tamron) attached to the camera. It was a nice mostly cloudy day so the light was perfectly soft.

My intent was to photograph details of the many flowers (both domestic and wild) in and around the yard. As you can see from the resulting photos, the insects seem to be following me around!!!

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The meadowhawk landed on an over the hill black-eyed susan next to the more photogenic one I had the camera aimed towards. I tried to ignore it, but it kept coming back to the same spot so I had to photograph it.

It let me get to within the close-focus distance of the macro lens and the detail (especially in the eyes) is quite amazing. I’m not sure that the detail will show in the small web sized version though.

14 August 2011

One More Turn in the Swamp / Close Encounters of the Ursine Kind

Filed under: Mammals,Odontates,Other Insects,The "New" Yard & Environs,Wildlife — Tags: , , , — Frank @ 3:00 PM

Yesterday afternoon, I headed back down to the beaver swamp at the back of our property just to see what was around.

Meadowhawks, including one mating pair, were present but in lower numbers than previously seen. The darners were ever present patrolling their territories and there were many spreadwings (all the same species) present.

At one point, while I was stalking a spreadwing, I heard the loud flapping of  wings (the sign of a nearby darner) and was quite surprised when a female landed nearby intent on laying eggs (see the third photo). She was only present a short time (about a minute) as another darner (male maybe?) appeared and harassed the first. Much to my surprise they both fell into the water but then both we gone in a matter of a few seconds.

The male whitetail was the only one (of either sex) that I saw, twice while I had it in my viewfinder it flew off only to land on my shirt!

The highlight of the afternoon was a “writing spider” (Argiope aurantia) eating a damselfly. I did not see the initial capture of the damselfly but I did spend twenty minutes (according to the exif data) watching and photographing the meal.

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On my way back up the hill to the house I heard the noise of a large animal off to my right, I stopped and turned to locate the source and was quite surprised to see a good sized (four or five feet long) black bear coming toward me less than a hundred feet away! She/he stopped maybe 75 feet away when they spotted me.

My first thought was to get the extension tube off the lens so I could get a photograph! Instead, I acted on my second thought… I headed off at an angle away from the bear and towards the house leaving the bear standing its ground.

Pitcher Mountain

Filed under: Amphibians,Odontates,Other Insects,Wildlife — Tags: , , , — Frank @ 8:00 AM

Friday was one of those quintessential summer days in New Hampshire… low humidity, temperature in the mid-70’s and sunny. Thus, we packed a lunch and headed to Pitcher Mountain in Stoddard. The plan was for Joan to pick blueberries and me to photograph.

Things worked out well. Joan got about three quarts and I got these:

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6 August 2011

A “Stolen” Hour at Bass Farm

Filed under: Odontates,Other Insects,Wildlife — Tags: , , , — Frank @ 6:00 PM

Yesterday, I “stole” an hour a midst the wedding preparations to wander the meadow and pond at the Bass Farm.

There were many male common white-tails patrolling territories along the shore of the pond and, although I spent quite some time stalking them, I did not get even a single shot of them. I also saw a small number of spreadwings along the pond.

There where large numbers of a small very nondescript brown dragonfly (which I have not had time to identify)  in the meadow grasses. There were also many pollinators (mostly bees but also some butterflies) among the wild flowers in the meadow. These were much easier to photograph!

The last two photos are of blossoms in the flower beads around the house

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Another Romp in the Swamp

Filed under: Odontates,Other Insects,The "New" Yard & Environs — Tags: , , — Frank @ 1:00 PM

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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31 July 2011

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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8 July 2011

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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