Dragonflies Save The Day
July 11th, 2017
At Roger's Pond on June 12th, a sweltering hot day was drawing out the deer flies. They swarmed me, buzzing annoyingly (mostly not biting, but the ones that did left bites that still itched two weeks later.) But then the most marvelous thing happened...the cavalry arrived.
My hero
I walked into a wide-open sunlit spot that teemed with Chalk-Fronted Corporals (above), American Emeralds and other dragonflies, and in an instant they were all around me, picking off flies. I can think of few sounds more welcome and satisfying than that *whizz* of a dragonfly zipping past your head as it snatches its prey...a very loud noise followed by blessed silence.
One less deer fly!
It ended up being largely a dragonflies kind of day, as all the birds seemed to be sheltering from the heat.
American Emerald
This one caught my attention when it whizzed by and snatched a tiny insect that I was trying to photograph. Annoyance gave way to interest when I noticed how petite it was. I was hoping for an Elfin Skimmer, a dragonfly so small that it is sometimes mistaken for a bee. But it wasn't quite that petite. With the help of the Ottawa Odes group, I learned that it was my first Frosted Whiteface.
dragonfly habitat
Garter Snake
July 11th, 2017
At Roger's Pond on June 12th, a sweltering hot day was drawing out the deer flies. They swarmed me, buzzing annoyingly (mostly not biting, but the ones that did left bites that still itched two weeks later.) But then the most marvelous thing happened...the cavalry arrived.
My hero
I walked into a wide-open sunlit spot that teemed with Chalk-Fronted Corporals (above), American Emeralds and other dragonflies, and in an instant they were all around me, picking off flies. I can think of few sounds more welcome and satisfying than that *whizz* of a dragonfly zipping past your head as it snatches its prey...a very loud noise followed by blessed silence.
One less deer fly!
It ended up being largely a dragonflies kind of day, as all the birds seemed to be sheltering from the heat.
American Emerald
This one caught my attention when it whizzed by and snatched a tiny insect that I was trying to photograph. Annoyance gave way to interest when I noticed how petite it was. I was hoping for an Elfin Skimmer, a dragonfly so small that it is sometimes mistaken for a bee. But it wasn't quite that petite. With the help of the Ottawa Odes group, I learned that it was my first Frosted Whiteface.
dragonfly habitat
Garter Snake
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Mike
July 12th, 2017 at 4:54 pm
Neat photos! I guess you had to get pretty low for that last one...
So now you want to carry a camera with a zoom lens and one with a macro lens?