Dragonflies and Damselflies, Two Additional Species

Saffron-winged Meadowhawk

Since I wrote my last blog, I have discovered and photographed two additional species of Dragon, and damselflies.  The first was a Saffron-winged Meadowhawk, either a female or immature male.  I possibly saw a male Saffron-winged Meadowhawk flitting by, but it did not land and I did not get a picture.  The second was a spreadwing damselfly, the Slender Spread Wing, and I was able to get photographs of both a male and female of the species.  What makes spread wings different than other damselflies is.  They perch with their wings partially open.

Saffron-winged Meadowhawk

Saffron-winged Meadowhawk

Slender Spreadwing - Female

Slender Spreadwing - Male

Ebony Jewelwing - Caloptryx maculata

Ebony Jewelwing - male, notice how the body color seems mainly green

Ebony Jewelwing - Caloptryx maculata is unique in that it is the only damselfly in the Northeast are entirely black wings.  Ebony Jewelwing are one of the hundred and 66 North American damselflies and dragonflies that are found in Massachusetts.  Starting in June every year, I find the Ebony Jewelwing hovering around the waters of the Nemasket River at Oliver Mill Park in Middleborough, Massachusetts.  Ebony Jewelwings flutter like a butterfly and show brilliant flashes of colors.  It size ranges between 1.5 to 2.5 inches.  The male of the species has a brilliant blue-green color and black wings with the female being a dull, a Brown body and smokey wings, which have glistening white spots near the tip of the wings.  They are normally found near wooded streams and rivers, though occasionally they can be found in the middle of the woods.  Ebony Jewelwings will prey on many species mosquitoes, Beatles, and even of the dragonflies and damselflies, and they in turn are prey to other types insects, frogs fish and birds.  The males are territorial, driving other males away, and there will flutter in a courtship display for females.

So the next time you are out, keep your eyes open for this easily identified damselfly.

Ebony Jewelwing - male, notice how the body color as it is back lit seems mainly blue

Ebony Jewelwing - female, fluttering her wings, noticed the white spots at the tip of the wings

Ebony Jewelwing - female, notice that the wings are wings, not black as in the male

Damselfly Parasitized by Water Mites

Damselfly with Water Mites

As you observe nature, you are always learning something new.  I was out photographing damselflies today, because I wanted to try to obtain some photographs of spreadwing damselflies.  After downloading my photographs to my computer today I noticed a damselfly with what appeared to be brown growths, mainly on its thorax.  On further investigation, these growths turned out to be water mites.  Well, I learned something new today.  There are apparently to main families of water mites that attack dragonflies and damselflies.  One family, Arrenurus mites follows this life-cycle: adult female mites lay eggs that hatch into larvae, which seek out and attach to, but do not parasitize larval damselflies and dragonflies.  When the damselfly of dragonfly emerges, the larval mites scramble on to the newly forming odenta, where they pierce the host exoskeleton and feed on external digestion of the host tissues and hemolymph.  As the damselfly nears sexual maturity the mites completing gorging in the successful mites drop off the adult host as it nears or over the water, where the mic goes through two nymphal stages.  The other family of water mites, Limnochares, eggs Hatch into larvae that climb onto emergent vegetation, where they attach themselves to perching dragonflies.

Close-Up of Water Mites on Thorax of Damselfly

Dragonflies/damselflies

Today was going to be an extremely hot day with temperatures in the 90s and very high heat index.  I decided to do some early morning photography on a subject that I have not photograph that all this year I went to one of my favorite spots for photographing dragonflies, and damselflies.  The location has a parking lot and requires no tramping through woods of brush.  Behind this area is a marsh, which is part of Long Pond.  For these photographs.  My equipment consisted of a Nikon D800, Tamron 180 mm f/3.5 macro 1:1 lens Acratech Ultimate Ballhead , on a tripod.
By starting off early, you can approach the dragonflies before they are fully active.  By utilizing the longer lens, I do not have to approach as close to the dragonfly to get a full frame almost full frame picture.  The hardest part is getting enough depth of field.  To have the entire dragonfly in focus, though at times it may not be necessary, just have the eyes and face in focus for a unusual portrait.
However, the hardest part of dragonfly photography is the final identification of the creature.  I utilize some field guides to help me with the identification: "a Field guide to the dragons and damselflies of Massachusetts."  2nd edition, which is available from (mail only): Massachusetts Natural Heritage Program <http://www.state.ma.us/dfwele/dfw/nhesp/nhesp.htm; "dragonflies through binocular's "
Even with these excellent field guides, I still have difficulty in identifying the dragonflies, and damselflies that I have photographed. 
For any of the  pictures below that I could not identify, if you can identify  dragonflies/damselflies.  Please comment on the name on the site.  I really appreciate any help that you can provide.

Eastern Pond Hawk

Dragonflies and Damselflies

It is now the hot days of summer and I have returned to my fun photography, that is photographing dragonflies and damselflies. For the past few days I've woken up early in the morning and with my trusty 105 macro lens gone out to observe the Odonata. I traveled down to the edge of the lakes, put on my knee boots and look for the various species. I want to get to them before he gets too warm and they get more active otherwise sometimes they get very nervous and will fly at the slightest motion.
Today I even tried to photograph one of the larger species of dragonflies flying over Rico Lake. In order to accomplish this I utilized my 70-200 mm lens and my bird in flight technique. I watched how the dragonflies were flying and noticed that they were following closely to a similar path most of the time. So I pre-focused and then would panning followed and took the pictures. As you can see from the picture I did capture the dragonfly in flight however, it is not the best or sharpest picture. Oh well it'll take more work to try to accomplish this task.

For those  of you who are interested in dragonfly photography I recommend a free e-book from photo naturalist which was written by Vic Beraedi. In the book he gives good references to the literature that help you identify which species that the damselflies or dragonfly belong to. For those of you who live in Massachusetts, the state fishing game service has a publication A Field Guide to the Dragonflies and Damselflies of Massachusetts 2nd Edition (2007) by Blair Nikula, Jennifer Loose, and Matthew Burne available-for-sale. If you go to <http://www.mass.gov/dfwele/dfw/nhesp/publications/nhesp_pubs.htm> you can download an order sheet to mail away for this publication.
Here are some of my photographs from the last few days.Autumn MeadowhawkBlue DasherBlue dasher
Female Blue DasherBluet MatingViolet DancerCommon or Eastern PondhawkDragonfly flight



Fragile Forktail
Stream BluetViolet Dance femaleon SumacWandering GliderFemale widow Skimmer
Here is a slide video of a Bluet laying an egg