Bit surprised to see, well, hear this blue emperor dragonfly (Anax imperator) clattering around in our unfortunate car port glass roof trap today – normally they’re only around earlier in the season 🧐
Anyway, managed to catch it the filthy (sorry) glass I keep outside for this purpose & take a quick phone picture – now it’s freely patrolling the neighbourhood again 🙂👍
For all you Dragonfly & Damselfly lovers, I just found out that this week (August 19-27) is the Odolympics, a project surveying the Odonata of the Western Hemisphere, organized by Odonata Central.
The goal is to record as many species from as many places as possible, and you can submit your info to Odonata Central or as observations on iNaturalist.
By contrast (or lack of it) this is a dragonfly so camouflaged that you could easily walk past without noticing. There are some faded yellow patches on the side but overall it is nut brown just like the dried seed heads it is resting on.
A rather old Common Darter (Sympetrum striolatum).
I once took a dragonfly for a swim in a lake while he rode on my uplifted finger. True story! Now I know I can swim with one arm in the air. What a great memory.
New-to-me critters this AM! August 2023 Central Texas.
The angle on the bird is not the best. A Yellow-billed Cuckoo?
A fancy green dragonfly. A Green Skimmer?
A mystery member of hymenoptera, bee-shaped and black but for a smooth red abdomen. They're not on a flower & it looks like they might have prey? A male mutilidae wasp? The wings & lack of fuzz on the abdomen seem more bee like than velvet waspish? No idea
On the left, a female migrant hawker (Aeshna mixta) roosting in the bushes – she’s well camouflaged against the background, but if you zoom in, there are lots of details to be seen.
And on the right, three darters (common or vagrant, Sympetrum striolatum or vulgatum – it’s hard to tell) perched on the tips of branches. Can you find them all? 🙂
Banded Demoiselle (Calopteryx splendens) Somewhere in Yorksire, UK in 2010ish but definitely with my Canon G12 - brilliant small and extremely versatile camera. Way out of date now but still useful for poking into bushes to get Hairstreak photographs
If you're a regular viewer, you won't be surprised to learn that I have a bit of an obsession with photographing the dragonflies in our garden 🐲🪰
Every picture is different & often challenging to capture, but sometimes true magic happens 🧙♂️
For me, this is one of those photos, a female common darter (Sympetrum striolatum) caught in the light & with just the right amount of depth of focus 🙂
Made a friend of a gorgeous dragonfly this week - been in the garden for the past few days. Today it allowed me to take some great footage close up on my phone. Managing to observe it up close was all kinds of awesome. Nature is so amazing. #Dragonflies#Insects#NaturePhotography#Nature#Photography#Garden#Dragonfly