We've been dragonfly hunting many, many days this season. A little more free time, and the kiddos are actually requesting it. Makes my heart happy. Lots of pictures taken, I've been trying to practice getting shots of them in flight. So, without further ado...
June 5th...
The Black Saddlebags were out and about.
The Common Whitetails were very abundant and FAST!
They were dogfighting all over the place.
Then resting between bouts.
I was able to zoom in on a Dot-tailed Whiteface, but still blurry.
Another Dot-tailed Whiteface over the water.
June 6th...
I tried some different settings on the camera. With some success! This Whitetail female was ovipositing (laying eggs) while her mate hover guarded above.
Here she is again, even with a faster shutter speed the wings were blurry.
So I opened the f stop a bit more and jumped the shutter speed up to 1/1000 of a second. Still a little blurry. But her body is pretty sharp.
Of course, they are still easier to shoot when they are resting, as this young male Widow Skimmer shows.
Male Widow Skimmer over the water.
A close up of him.
Male Twelve-spotted Skimmer that came out pretty good.
They were all over the place
Then I saw this female Common Pondhawk ovipositing. This was the best shot of her before little Sweet Pea took a swipe with her net and scared her off.
This male Common Pondhawk was resting nearby. Much easier to shoot!
This was my favorite shot of the day, though. I love the colors on these!
And today, June 9th...
As I sat and watched the kiddos hunt, this Common Pondhawk male came over and started having lunch.
Of course, Black Saddlebags were there again, but they never stopped flying.
Another female ovipositing. This time a female Widow Skimmer.
Of course, the Common Whitetail males were out in force, and dueling anything that approached their territory.
Twelve-spotted Skimmer male, with a male Widow Skimmer flying a bit behind.
Twelve-spotted Skimmer
Widow Skimmer
When we first arrived at the pond, I saw a few red dragonflies zooming around. I was thrilled! It was the Red Saddlebags that I thought I saw the other day! I spent a LOT of time stalking them, but they never landed. So these are the best shots I got of these beautiful dragonflies.
My goal is to one day get a shot like this, but crystal clear.
We have had some really fun days Ode hunting. Now I have to figure out what to do with all of these pictures!
More Later
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