Tag: dragonflyphotography

Photography Challenge Day 164: Resting dragonflies (short post)

Jul

2019

While I would love to say that the large number of dragonflies is due to the large amounts of rain this spring–I know that isn’t it. The dragonflies have had a couple of good years, and numerous ones finished their metamorphosis to adults this year. I’ve seen more dragonflies this year flying around than I have the past couple of years (and we haven’t even reached migration season yet for some of the dragonflies).

We’ve had numerous dragonflies through the backyard over the past couple of days. I managed to get under this one as it was resting on the power line.

Smaller dragonfly resting on the iris leaves

They have been attracted to the pond, so there are usually one or two that fly around it, with them both landing in different areas to rest.

Two dragonflies staring off in two different directions.

It has been nice having them in the yard–there has been a slight decrease in the mosquito population, though I’m still getting chewed by the little suckers (I’d love to have a pet dragonfly that would just sit around and wait for a sign and then pick off the mosquitoes as they land on me).

jessimatts No Comments insectsnaturePhotography amaturephotographerbackyardphotographybackyardpondsdragonflieseatmosquitoesdragonflyphotographymoredragonflieslessmosquitoesnaturephotographyphotographychallenge

Photography Challenge Day 161: Moths, butterflies, and dragonflies–oh my.

Jul

2019

The winners of today’s photography challenge are some of the insects that I saw on my morning walk this morning at Boomer Lake. Both the temperature and humidity were low enough this morning, that I decided to get in my morning zen and see what type of wildlife I could see at Boomer Lake.

I’ve decided to be more in the moment and not just look for birds, turtles, and rabbits–but also pay attention to the smaller things that are buzzing around (or splashing around for that matter).

These two I saw pretty early in my walk. I’m not sure what type of moths they are, but at least I managed to get a picture of them with their wings spread out. There have been times when I only manage to get the picture when their wings are up and you can hardly see the butterfly (or moth).

Orange moths or butterflies resting on the leaves near the shore.

I then saw this orange and black butterfly a little later in my walk—I think it is a pearl crescent butterfly. This particular butterfly can be difficult to identify (markings change), which is why I’m only guessing at the identification. But if it is a pearl crescent butterfly—they’re found throughout the eastern United States, southern Canada, and Mexico.

Finally there was this small butterfly or moth, that just wouldn’t spread it’s wings. I know that it was a yellow-orange color, but that is all I managed to get. I stood there for awhile waiting to see if it would spread it’s wings–but it had more patience than I did–it out waited me and I moved on.

Little orange/yellow butterfly (or moth) that didn’t want to show it’s wings

Then I noticed that there were some dragonflies fluttering around, and I decided to see if I could get a good picture of one landing/resting on a flower or some grass. Well I managed to get a picture of one resting on a blade of grass–and I managed to get a surprise in the picture as well. I didn’t realize at the time, that there was a little grasshopper sitting on the underside of the blade of grass.

Dragonfly and a little grasshopper sharing a blade of grass

Since it was such a wet spring, I’ve seen numerous dragonflies and hopefully that means in a year or two there will be another large number of dragonflies flying through the air eating all the mosquitoes.

jessimatts No Comments butterfliesinsectsnaturePhotography BoomerLakebutterflyphotographydragonflyphotographyinsectphotographymorningwalkmorningzenpearlcrescentbutterflyphotographychallengesummermorningsummertime

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