Photographs by Frank

7 August 2013

A Visit to Rye Pond

Filed under: Monadnock Region,Odontates,Summer,wildflowers — Tags: , , — Frank @ 12:13 PM

Yesterday afternoon, Joan and I put our kayaks in the water at Rye Pond (situated at the juncture of Stoddard, Antrim and Nelson).

This wetland is part of the Virginia Baker Natural Area of the Harris Center. With long frontage on Route 123, it is not the quietest of spots but it definitely worth repeated visits. We try to get there at least one or two times a year during ode season. The pond is quite shallow and contains a significant amount of floating bog that supports numerous pitcher plants and sundew. However, we were too late this year for the peak of the pitcher plant flowering.

There are also generally numerous odes and we were not disappointed this trip.

The most numerous species of ode present were the swamp spreadwings and the slaty skimmers. We saw numerous ovipositing pairs of both species. The spreadwings oviposit in tandem, with the male still grasping the female. The slaty skimmers oviposit with the male hovering near by while the female repeatedly dips her abdomen in the water. Both strategies are intended to  keep other males from usurping the already-mated female.

The real highlight of the afternoon were the numerous scarlet bluets out on the lily pads, well away from the shore. The large majority were male but I did see two (and manage to photograph one) female. This is the only place that I have seen this species.

I also saw one or two male orange bluets. The photo of this species I present is not perfect (the individual is facing away from the camera and I would have liked a bit more  depth of field). However, some times one just has to make do with less than perfect.

I show this photo because of the mass of mites on the abdomen. Mites (small, red ones) are fairly common on adult odes and are particularly abundant on odes (of many species) in Rye Pond. The large purplish mites on this individual are a first for me.

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4 August 2013

“Down Back”, Yesterday Afternoon

Filed under: Odontates,Summer,The "New" Yard & Environs,wildflowers — Tags: , , — Frank @ 2:00 PM

About three yesterday afternoon, I donned waders and headed out “down back” to “our” beaver swamp. To me, there is nothing more enjoyable than spending a few hours outside watching (and photographing) the world.

One can tell that August is here because there the meadowhawks appear to great you as you get to the wetland. Meadowhawks spend most of their time at the margin of the beaver meadow. They often perch on the shrubs found there. Yesterday was typical, meadowhawks were the first and last odes I saw.

Out in the meadow proper, I was surprised at the small numbers of darners that were present… maybe it is still a bit early. I think of them as “late season” species… we’ll have to keep looking!

Of course, there was much else going on if one looks carefully.

There were more damselflies out and about than there were dragonflies. Perhaps the most common species present were sphagnum sprites; I saw a number of pairs flying in tandem and ovipositing.

Photographing ovipositing pairs of damselflies is very frustrating. Usually the male is sort of free standing and therefore he is constantly “vibrating”. This makes for “fuzzy” if not downright blurry males. One rare occasions the male finds something solid to grab onto which makes for better photographs (as is the case in the eighth photo shown here).

All of the books about odes make mention that ovipositing puts these critters at risk of predation. This unlucky pair is an example. As I was watching them through the viewfinder a spider came literally from nowhere  and pounced on the pair capturing the female. The actual attack took only a few tenths of a second and my reflexes are not that good! Thus, I only have photos of the aftermath (see the ninth photo in this series). I searched for the spider in all of the frames I shot of the pair and can not find it!

There were also fair numbers of eastern forktails, mainly older females, about. Female eastern forktails start out bright orange and turn a dull gray with age. It is hard to believe that they are the same species much less the same individuals they look so different.

I also saw (and photographed) for the first time a lone fragile forktail; it was about two feet from all of the “spider drama”.

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28 July 2013

One Extraordinary July Afternoon in the Beaver Meadow

Filed under: Odontates,Other Insects,Summer — Tags: , , , — Frank @ 3:25 PM

Yesterday afternoon, I headed down to the wetland behind our house. I had not been down there for a couple of weeks… first it was too hot for me, more recently it has been too cool and gray for much ode activity.

Yesterday the conditions were ideal for both human and ode… the temperature was in the mid-70’s and it was mostly sunny.

On my way down through the woods, I noticed three or four very small (pinky nail-sized) light brown frogs… probably wood frogs. I did not get any photos, they were very skittish and the ode rig would not have provided enough magnification anyway.

A little further along I noticed another bit of movement on the forest floor… it took me about five minutes of searching, but I finally noticed the critter…a small, well camouflaged moth (see the first photo).

As I reached the beaver meadow, I saw a few early bright red male meadow hawks in the shrubs along the margin and a number of large dragonflies (darners) out over meadow. I did not stop to photograph the meadow hawks (there will be plenty more to come).

Rather headed out to the edges of the open water. As expected, there was much activity here. A number of different species of both dragonflies and damselflies going about their business, mostly feeding, but also mating and ovipositing.

As I was watching and photographing the damselflies among the grasses and sedges along a small spot of open water, I turned to my right and noticed the extraordinary scene shown in the second photograph. I don’t know the details of the story, but visually it is quite a story… the title might be “How Did the Darner Lose Its Abdomen?”! I am unsure if the exuvia in the background is part of the story or not.

When I stood up from photographing this scene, I noticed a bit of movement a few feet away. The source of this movement is shown in the two photos made less than a meter from the half-darner. It took me a while to sort out what was going on in my viewfinder… it is very rare to see one damselfly preying on another. I see dragonflies preying on damsels infrequently but regularly. I do not remember ever seeing one damselfly eating another before.

Along with these unusual events, I made photos of the more typical events… these was much mating and ovipositing going on!

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7 July 2013

Fourth of July Odes

Filed under: "Camp",Monadnock Region,Odontates,Summer — Tags: , — Frank @ 10:00 AM

After a lunchtime barbeque with Joan’s cousins to celebrate the holiday, Joan and I spent the rest of afternoon and early evening at camp. Joan headed out for a sail and I headed out around the edge of the lake to see what odes were about.

Eventually we both settled in our chairs with the books we had brought; a nice way to relax on a hot and humid Independence Day.

The most abundant ode were male bluets (which I have not identified further), there were smaller numbers of variable dancers (including at least two pairs flying in tandem) and a few clubtails as well.

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24 June 2013

The Easy, The Hard and The Different

Filed under: Odontates,The "New" Yard & Environs,wildflowers — Tags: , , — Frank @ 10:00 PM

If you want to try your hand at photographing odonates, I recommend starting with four-spotted skimmers. This medium sized (2-3″) dragonfly often returns to the same perch again and again after each hunting foray. It also generally chooses perch at the tops (ends) of branches or other stalks. Lastly, it is not particularly skittish and thus is relatively easy to approach closely. All of this makes four-spotted skimmers easy… to photograph.

If you want to increase your levels of frustration, I recommend trying to photograph the sedge sprite (and a number of other small damselflies). These critters are small (about 1- 1.5″ long) and slender.  They spend most of  their time low down in the vegetation and seem to flit about at random.  All of this makes sedge sprites (and their ilk) hard… to photograph.

Every once in a while I find myself on the wrong side of an ode in terms of the light. Sometimes when this happens, the silhouette neuron in my brain goes off. This allows me to make something different… photographically.

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I made the photograph of the iris as I headed back towards home. The sun, which by 6:30 was relatively low in the sky, had gone behind the clouds making for some nice light. The irises are nearing the end of their season so I doubt that there will be too many more chances to photograph them… until next summer.

23 June 2013

Another Two Days of Odeing

Filed under: "Camp",Monadnock Region,Odontates,The "New" Yard & Environs — Tags: , — Frank @ 8:30 AM

I seem to be getting behind in my posting… or maybe I am spending too much time odeing… nah!!!

Identifying the subjects is definitely the slow step.

Anyway… Joan and I spent Thursday afternoon at camp. We got the sailboat in the water and then “played”.

I wandered the shore of the cove,  with these results:

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On Friday afternoon, I got distracted by all of the odes in the yard and spent a short time (a half hour from the first of these photos to the last, according to the metadata) wandering the yard with camera in hand.

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20 June 2013

A Fabulous Day for Odes

Filed under: Monadnock Region,Nature Conservancy properties,Odontates,Other Insects,Summer — Tags: , , — Frank @ 8:05 AM

Yesterday was a spectacular day weather-wise… bright and sunny with the temperature in around 70. A perfect day to be outside!

I headed out late morning with three sites in mind to visit… the Powdermill Pond WMA, the Contoocook River near the paper mill in Bennington and the Lovern’s Mill White Cedar Swamp. I actually stopped at only the first and the last… the river by the paper mill  looked way too high to wade. Even so, I did not get back home until after four.

The first photo (below)  of the calico pennant was made in the yard as I was taking my gear out to the truck. The last four photos were made at the Cedar Swamp. The rest at Powdermill Pond, mostly in the uplands area as the river was too deep to wade safely.

There were surprisingly few odes out and about in general.

At the Powdermill Pond WMA there were decent numbers of Eastern Forktails mainly in the grassy areas back from the river and a few clubtails cruising the river bank.

At the Lovern’s Mill Swamp, I saw exactly three odes… but took good advantage of them! On my way in to the swamp, I saw, but did not get a chance to photograph, a single ebony jewelwing along the trail just before getting to the swamp proper.

While on the boardwalk in the swamp, I saw exactly two Harlequin Darners.

I watched one individual for some time, he kept hovering at about chest height in the vegetation just off the boardwalk and would occasionally land on the trunk of a nearby white cedar. At one point he chased off another dragonfly. (I assume another Harlequin Darner).

Since he was spending long (for a dragonfly) periods hovering in one spot, I tried my hand at capturing him flight. This is not something I try to do regularly as it is a low yield endeavor. The photo shown is the best, by far, of more than a dozen total.

Eventually the darner flew off and I headed back up the trail towards the car.

Maybe fifty feet back up the trail from the boardwalk, I encountered another (maybe the same individual as before; it was the same general area) ebony jewelwing. This time he was most accommodating in terms of photography. He was actively feeding on the insects along the trail. He spent most of his time perched on the trail-side  vegetation either waiting to pounce or eating. He was quite successful at hunting, returning to a perch with prey every second or third foray.

I may have contributed a bit to his success as a large cloud of mosquitoes quickly enveloped me when I stopped to photograph him. I believe that this was a symbiotic relationship… beneficial to at least two of the parties involved. I got photos, the damselfly got fed and the mosquitoes… well they got eaten!

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16 June 2013

Two Days of Ode-ing

Filed under: Amphibians,Odontates,Other Insects,Summer,wildflowers — Tags: , , , — Frank @ 11:00 PM

Today was not a particular good day for ode-ing… it was overcast and cool.

Not that I minded… I spent four or five hours over the previous two days swamp stomping  in my new summer-weight (i.e. non-neoprene) waders. Previously, I had made do with “green wellies” which often got flooded if I ventured a little too deep or if I squatted down in the water. Chest-waders have neither problem and therefore make the life of a swamp stomper much nicer!

Here are the results (including a few “non-ode” species):

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10 June 2013

Backyard Ode-ing

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

Yesterday afternoon, I got distracted by the profusion (both in terms of number of species and number of individuals) of odes present in the yard.

I spent about an hour and a half  hunting odes and making photos…  much more fun that identifying odes from previous trips and household chores.

I count seven species of odes… and how did that bumble bee sneak in?!

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9 June 2013

Migratory Dragonfly Workshop

Filed under: Odontates,Summer — Tags: , — Frank @ 9:00 PM

Yesterday, Joan and I spent an enjoyable day at the Vermont Center for Ecostudies in White River Junction, Vermont. We attended, with about three dozen other folks, a workshop about the  Migratory Dragonfly Project presented by Celeste M. of the Xerces Society,

Most of the day was spent inside learning about migratory dragonflies and how to be part of this citizen science project. The presentations were informative and lively.

After the presentations we explored two ponds in the VCE’s immediate neighborhood. Fortunately the weather, which started cool and rainy in the morning, had improved significantly and there were significant odes to be captured and studied… or… in my case, photographed.

Here are the results:

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