Photographs by Frank

22 July 2015

Yard Odes and Flowers

Filed under: Garden Flowers,Odontates,Other Insects,Summer,The Yard — Tags: , , , — Frank @ 10:00 PM

Yesterday (Tuesday, 21 July) dawned hot and sticky and stayed that way. Despite the weather I spent some time in the late afternoon haunting the yard in search of odes. The numbers of odes were small, but there was a nice variety. The most common insect was a butterfly; the great spangled fritillary.

[scrollGallery id=383 autoscroll = false width = 600 height = 600 useCaptions = true]

At some point during my rounds, I turned my attention from odes to the flowers Joan has growing in the many beds and containers around the yard.

[scrollGallery id=384 autoscroll = false width = 600 height = 600 useCaptions = true]

 

18 July 2015

Zealand Falls

Filed under: Landscapes,Odontates,Summer,the White Mountains,wildflowers,Wildlife — Tags: , , , , — Frank @ 4:00 PM

Yesterday (Friday, 17 Jul) Joan had a plant survey scheduled for the northern White Mountains. The forecast was for perfect hiking weather, so I went along and spent the day meandering along the trail to Zealand Falls and the nearby AMC hut.

The bright sunny weather and timing (middle of the day) were not going to make for great landscape photos, but I was hoping for some odes, especially for more northern species. The map showed a number of ponds/wetlands along the upper portion of the trail, so I was expecting good “hunting”.

The first critter I encountered along the trail was a garter snake sunning itself at the trail’s edge. Of course my approach spooked it, but it hung around under the shrubs long enough for me to photograph it.

Surprisingly, the beaver ponds were not the ode “hot spot” that I thought they might be. Maybe they are too high (between roughly 3000 and 3500 feet) for water warm enough to support many species.

I did see small numbers of larger dragonflies (probably darners of some sort) patrolling out over the water. Along the shore of one of the ponds, I also found (and was able to photograph) some bluets (either Boreal or Northern) and a few male chalk-fronted corporals.

I observed a single female bluet and roughly a dozen males. When I first spotted the female she was already flying in tandem with a male. As I watched, the pair were harassed by a number of males trying to break up them up (and thus have their own chance of mating with her). The harassment was for naught, as the pair finally formed a mating wheel.

[scrollGallery id=381 autoscroll = false width = 600 height = 600 useCaptions = true]

 

13 July 2015

Ode Tragedy

Filed under: Odontates,Summer — Tags: , — Frank @ 6:15 PM

Yesterday (Sunday, 12 Jul), Joan and I made a hot, sunny trip (of about three miles round trip) on the Connecticut River in Claremont, NH.

Joan was on a rare plant hunt for NEWFS. I, of course, was interested in big river odes!

Joan did not find the plants she was looking for. I watched two teneral dragonflies drown!

The most common ode we saw were, I believe, powdered dancers. Most were single males patrolling out over the river. But I did see four or five pairs ovipositing in a small patch of emergent vegetation. I have no photos of them since it is simple not possible to make photos at high magnification while sitting in a boat on a relatively fast moving river.  That’s my story and I’m sticking to it!

At one point, I noticed a odd fluttering movement on some emergent vegetation at the rivers edge. I headed over to discover a damaged and teneral dragonfly. I pulled my boat ashore and spent some time observing and photographing this “fellow” (see the first three photos below). Twice, while I watched, the wake of a passing boat washed the critter off the stem it was holding but each time it climbed back up. Notice the crumpled wing, despite much fluttering of wings at times, I suspect that this individual was never going to fly and was, thus, doomed.

After some minutes of my watching this individual, Joan came along and pointed out another teneral dragonfly about ten feet further upstream from the first. I headed over to photograph the second individual who was clinging to a stem of grass within inches of the water  (see the second three photos below).

After a few minutes of photographing this new individual, another boat (with its concomitant wake) went by and washed it off its perch; the current carried it quickly downstream. I went back to the place I first stopped and, alas, there was only a very soggy clump of vegetation to be found.

I packed up the ode rig and headed on upstream to the spot where Joan was searching for plants on the back. I beached the boat and began to hunt unsuccessfully for a powdered dancer to photograph. I did, however,  find a small number of very nondescript brown damselflies which I think are female dusky dancers.  At one point Joan came by bearing a small piece of vegetation to which an exuvia was clinging. I was able to prop this up between two river stones and make a nice photo of it as well.

[scrollGallery id=380 autoscroll = false width = 600 height = 600 useCaptions = true]

 

6 July 2015

Campbell Pond Odes

Filed under: Monadnock Region,Odontates,Summer,wildflowers,Wildlife — Tags: , , — Frank @ 11:00 AM

Last Thursday (2 July) afternoon I spent a couple of hours looking for odes at Campbell Pond. I arrived at about 3 PM. This pond was once the public water supply for the Town of Antrim. It is now set aside as conservation land and has a completely undeveloped shore line. This was my first “odeing” trip to the pond.

There is no vehicular access to the pond but it is a short walk along a well maintained woods road into the pond. I saw my first ode, a calico pennant, maybe twenty five feet down the road. I continued to see small numbers (one or two individuals) of a variety of species all along the road.

When I got to the stream flowing out of the pond things changed. There were dozens of ebony jewelwings of both sexes around the stream where it flows over the road.

Out over the pond proper there were many odes, probably calico pennants, flying and (I think) ovipositing.  There were also smaller numbers of chalk-fronted corporals present.

[scrollGallery id=375 autoscroll = false width = 600 height = 600 useCaptions = true]

 

27 June 2015

Ode Stroll

Filed under: Monadnock Region,Odontates,Summer,Wildlife — Tags: , — Frank @ 6:30 PM

On Wednesday afternoon, I had about an hour to kill before heading off to a Conservation Committee meeting. I filled the time by “hunting” odes in the yard.

The numbers of chalk-fronted corporals and hudsonian whitefaces are way down. Presumably most have headed off to the water to mate and oviposit. The most common dragonfly present were yellow (immature male or female) calico pennants. There were about a dozen individuals present.

The most common damselfly (by far) were immature male sedge sprites. Initially, I observed two or three sedge sprites very low (within six inches of the ground) in one of Joan’s flowerbeds. I knelt down and photographed them.

As I arose to move on, I was amazed to notice that I had flushed dozens of these creatures, which I had completely missed, from their hiding places. This scenario was repeated three or four more times even though I now knew to look more carefully. I have no clue how dozens of (admittedly small) insects could repeatedly escape my notice!

[scrollGallery id=371 autoscroll = false width = 800 height = 600 useCaptions = true]

 

24 June 2015

Maturing and Cooling Odes

Filed under: Odontates,Summer,The Yard — Tags: — Frank @ 12:00 PM

In some species of dragonflies, the males change color as they mature. Two of these species have been present in our yard recently.

Both sexes of the hudsonian whiteface and the calico pennant are yellow when they are newly emerged. Over the ensuing week or two the males become red. This process seems to occur from “head-to-toe”. Thus, you can sometimes find individuals (such as those in the first two photographs below) with orange spots on their abdomens.

The third photo in this series shows a behavior involved in thermoregulation called “obelisking”. On hot sunny days, some dragonflies will orient themselves, while perched, to minimize their exposure to the sun. Often this involves “standing straight up” rather than “laying out flat”.

The last photo in this series is of a relatively rare (at least in our neighborhood) species, the racket-tailed emerald. This individual is immature since its eyes are brown. When it is fully mature it will have the bright green eyes characteristic of emeralds.

[scrollGallery id=366 autoscroll = false width = 800 height = 600 useCaptions = true]

 

14 June 2015

Backyard Odes

Filed under: Monadnock Region,Odontates,Summer,The Yard,Wildlife — Tags: — Frank @ 12:30 PM

Friday (12 June) I notice two yellow (i.e. female or immature male) calico pennants in our yard.

Yesterday there were a dozen or more… enough so that I dropped what I was doing and picked up the camera.

There were a few four-spotted skimmers in the mix. The usual chalk-fronted corporals were also “out and about”.

[scrollGallery id=363 autoscroll = false width = 800 height = 600 useCaptions = true]

 

12 June 2015

Odes Down Back

Filed under: Monadnock Region,Odontates,Summer — Tags: , , — Frank @ 10:56 AM

Ten cords of firewood is finally stacked… I can get back to photography!

Yesterday afternoon was warm (about 80 degrees F) and windy. I donned my waders and headed “down back” to the beaver-made wetland at the back of our property.

I arrived at about 2 PM and stayed for three hours. I spent most of my time at the edge of the beaver pond and the small stream that feeds it.

Given the recent lack of  male Hudsonian whitefaces in the yard (the females are still present), I was expecting to find them down by the beaver pond. I was not disappointed.

However, the most common ode was the chalk-fronted corporal. There were many dozens of both sexes mostly flying out over the open water; although a few perched for short intervals. I also observed a small number of mating-wheels.

Common whitetails were almost as abundant as the chalk-fronted corporals and their activities were similar; less perching and larger numbers of mating-wheels.

The abundance of common whitetails at the water was surprising since, in contrast with the chalk-fronted corporals, we rarely seem then in the yard.

There were small numbers of male clubtails (I’m unsure of the exact species probably beaver pond clubtails*), male frosted whitefaces and a couple of four-spotted skimmers.

I saw only two damselflies during the three hours I was out. A small brownish individual, probably a female bluet, that I did not get a good look or a photograph.

The second individual, which I  did get a good photograph of, is an immature male Amber-winged spreadwing* probably a male Aurora damsel but I am not entirely convinced. It has the yellow lateral spots but the top of the thorax is blue rather than black. My impression is that this individual was significantly larger than the typical Aurora damsel.

Oh… about the frog… “he” appeared seemingly out of thin air (water?) three or four feet from where I was kneeling and was completely indifferent to my presence as I went about photographing odes for the next twenty or so minutes.. He did not even flinch when I stood up to move on.

[scrollGallery id=362 autoscroll = false width = 800 height = 600 useCaptions = true]

*Thanks to Steve and Hal from the Northeast Odes mailing list for the help in identification.

 

20 May 2015

Ode Opener – 2015 Version

Filed under: Monadnock Region,Odontates,Spring — Tags: — Frank @ 5:00 PM

The ode season is off to its usual slow start in the Monadnock region.

Ten days ago (on Sunday, 10 May) I noticed a single yellow (i.e. an immature male or female) Hudsonian Whiteface. The next day, I saw another single individual.

By the end of the week, there were dozens of individuals sunning themselves on the driveway and the road and a few of the males were beginning to turn red. Small numbers of female Chalk-fronted Corporals had also appeared.

This past weekend (15 – 16 May) , I observed a couple of Hudsonian Whiteface mating wheels on the wing. Thus, the season progresses.

[scrollGallery id=358 autoscroll = false width = 800 height = 600 useCaptions = true]

This morning (Wed., 20 May) dawned chilly (temperature in the 50’s) and breezy. I had thoughts of heading down to the lake to look for emerging odes, but decided against it based on the weather.

Mid-morning, Joan had some business to attend to down at the public beach. When she arrived there she called me to say that there was an eclosing nymph on the beach shed.

I arrived at the beach shortly thereafter and we discovered a number (all of the same species, probably a skimmer or an emerald; but don’t quote me!) of shed exuvia on the tree trunks as well as a couple of nymphs still scaling their chosen tree.

Shows you how much I know!

When she got back to the house, Joan headed down to the garden. A short time later, I was summoned down to the garden because she had discovered a dragonfly,  probably an immature male American Emerald, perched on the ground.

[scrollGallery id=359 autoscroll = false width = 800 height = 600 useCaptions = true]

 

31 December 2014

An Adams Dozen for 2014

Filed under: Birds,Landscapes,Odontates — Tags: , , — Frank @ 6:00 PM

Back in 2011 (see this post), I started an annual tradition of choosing a dozen photographs to represent my work for the year. I some how missed making a similar post for 2012, but I continued the “tradition” in 2013 with this post.

Maybe this will actually become a tradition, since I have remembered (in a timely fashion) to choose a dozen for 2014.

Here they are:

[scrollGallery id=330 autoscroll = false width = 600 height = 600 useCaptions = true]

 

« Newer Posts — Older Posts »

Powered by WordPress