Tag: dragonflies

Photography Challenge Day 137: the dragonfly and the rabbit

Jul

2019

Well there was a draw when trying to decide the winner of today’s photography challenge–therefore there will be two today.

I decided to go ahead and do a morning walk (as I wasn’t sure of how congested the pedestrian traffic was going to be at the lake this morning). I’ve realized that depending on what time I walk, determines what wildlife I may see on my walk.

Since I’ve been trying to do early (though not super early) walks due to the weather I haven’t seen that many turtles out and about. I also haven’t seen that many different species of birds. I have been trying to keep my eye out for other wildlife (such as turtles, dragonflies, rabbits, and so forth).

Today I was lucky to be able to get the picture of the following dragonfly and then one of the many rabbits that are living up at the lake.

I’m not sure what type of dragonfly this is, but it is a beautiful one (even if I got the picture of the back end). Since I’ve decided to do more than just bird watch at the lake, I’ve been able to get pictures of animals that I normally would pass by, but they turn out to be wonderful photography subjects.

Then a little later on my walk I noticed that there was a cottontail rabbit out grazing in the grass.

I just didn’t think that I’d actually capture a picture of one with a mouthful of grass. I’ve noticed on my walk that there are at least four to six rabbits up at the lake, and they all look to be fairly large, so they’re probably all adults (how old–that I don’t know).

That means there is a healthy rabbit population at the lake, and also a healthy predator population as well. I know through reading up on cottontail rabbits, they have several litters of young a year because most don’t survive–so with seeing the number I have, it means that next spring I should probably still be seeing at least four rabbits around the lake.

jessimatts No Comments insectsnaturePhotography BoomerLakecottontailrabbitdragonfliesdragonflyphotographymorningwalkmorningzennaturephotographyphotographychallengesummertimeishere

Photography Challenge Day 118: The Dragonfly collection

Jun

2019

So on my walk this morning, I actually managed to get some good pictures of three different dragonflies.

I managed to capture the picture of this dragonfly just after it landed on the stick. I was happy it turned out as nice as it did–since it originally looked to blend in well with the ground. It definitely blends in when the background is brown and green.

Then spotted this blue one a little further down the path.

Then I saw one that was blue but had the black patches on it’s wings. It also has bright blue eyes as well–and did you know that the head of an dragonfly is made up almost entirely of it’s eyes?

Then another bronze dragonfly flew through.

Then another bronze dragonfly landed on the branch behind the blue one (which is extremely fuzzy in the picture). I know it’s different from the first–based mainly on the patterns on the wings. This one just has dark edging, where the first had dark patches. Also the body of the first one was probably double the size of this one.

I enjoy seeing both these and the smaller damselflies–that means they’re eating all the mosquitoes they can. Considering how wet of a year we’re having–I’d really be happy if I was seeing swarms of the dragonflies and damselflies.

jessimatts No Comments insectsnaturePhotography BoomerLakedragonfliesdragonflyphotographyflyinginsectsinsectphotographymorningwalkmorningzennaturenaturephotographyphotographychallenge

Photography Challenge Day 5: Insect Edition take 1

Aug

2018

So I realized that trying to get outside and getting a new picture taken for today probably wasn’t going to happen (and I was right). I didn’t really notice anything that caught my attention this morning walking to the bus stop, and it was too warm for me to take a walk on campus during my lunch hour to figure out what I want a picture of.

So the winners of the drawing for the posting tonight went to the insects that I managed to get pictures of last week.

While we aren’t quite in the middle of dragonfly migration season, we have been having several darting through the yard over the past several weeks. This one was one of the larger ones, and seemed to enjoy taking a break on the wires in the backyard. I find them so fascinating to see how they dart around and times you almost can’t see them.

We then had this little one visit the yard the other day:

This little one had more of a blue-green body and a thinner pair of wings.

Then there have been numerous moths and butterflies going through the yard as well.

It took me almost five minutes debating with myself on whether or not I was taking a picture of a piece of bark, when I realized that it was just a very well camouflaged moth.

And the final entry goes to the elusive yellow butterfly that I managed to get a picture of as it was flying over the house. I had been trying to get a picture of this one for probably about 15 to 20 minutes (managed to get several of it at an angle), when it darted out of the yard, and I manged to capture this picture.

One of the things that I want to also start getting better at is the identification of what I’m taking a picture of–I’m pretty good at bird identification, and now I want to get better at being able to identify different insects and plants as well.

jessimatts No Comments naturePhotography butterfliesdragonfliesentomologyinsectsmothsphotographychallenge