If you've been following this blog lately, it would be impossible to miss the fact that I've become a lot more interested in dragonflies this past year. (To really drive the point home, click on the "Dragonflies" label at the bottom of this post.) And of course with that interest, it naturally follows that I'm interested in photographing them as well. I've really enjoyed playing with different techniques for snapping the pics, as well as exercising patience to try to get really close up.
Today I received a wide-angle lens attachment for my Sony DSC-H50 camera, with the intent of using it to try and get more depth of field for macro close-ups., so I took a bit of time on my lunch break to step outside for a few minutes and test it out. After wandering about for a bit, I heard what sounded like a dragonfly's wings beating as well as a "crunching" sound. Well, the wings were a dragonfly's, beating against the grass - and the crunching sound was him eating. I've been lucky enough to watch a few dragonflies eating, but this really was something else. The diner was a Common Green Darner - one of the larger dragonflies in our area, and the meal was what I think had been a Variable Darner. By the time I arrived on the scene, the head was gone and he was working on the body. Oh - the really weird thing was that the Green Darner was on it back and eating when I first found them!
He stayed and ate for a while allowing me to play with the new lens, and finally took off leaving a very pretty headless darner behind him.
CT - Lesser Black-backed Gull - 02/03
13 hours ago
8 comments:
Thems some amazing pictures... wow
dan
Yikes, that's quite the catch (looks like Black-tipped from what I can see). Had one buzz by at Great Meadows today with something huge in its mouth but it didn't slow down. Wasn't sure what it could have been but this shows that it could have been just about anything.
Major wow on the pictures!
Any suggestions for a oouple of books on dragonfly ID?
julie
Incredible macro work--I can't get that close.//I use Audubon Field Guide for Mid-Atlantic for dragonfly IDs
your interest in the dragonflies is obvious in the quality of pictures you're posting - so or later, I may join the line
Crikey!
Japanese Knotweed
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Nice shots Christopher!
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