Daily Photo - Blue Dasher

From the New York Botanical Gardens.

Spangled Skimmer

Not an hard to find species, but pretty all the same.

Black Shouldered Spiney Leg Dragonfly

Also from back in June, it turns out this one isn't a new one though. I have much older pics of it from a previous camera I just never tried identifying it before.

Chalk-Fronted Corporal

A photo from back in June, at the time it was a new species for me to spot and I never got around to posting it, no idea why.

October Shadow Darner

It's not often darners are nice enough to just land where I can photograph them. Most of them fly above head height and land on trees much too high to even see what they are, never mind get close.

Another Tricky Bug

I tried wandering Broadmoor again Thursday with no great results. On the way out on 16 I parked next to the Charles River at the Natick Historical Society. There's a small grassy picnic area right by the river. There are also numerous dragonflies right at the edge of the river. A few twelve spotted skimmers fluttered about and one widow skimmer. The widow skimmer landed a few times and I stalked it about. Eventually, I switched to a high iso and put the zoom lens on just to give me a shot at a good image.

One of the Tricky Ones

You'd think with a name like Common Whitetail catching one of these guys in a photo would be easier. While I do see them practically everywhere getting them to land and stay down can be frustrating. The worst part is they aren't always even reacting to me. This is just one of the dragonflies that tends to hop around. Now that I think of it the Common Pondhawk is quite jumpy sometimes as well. Maybe they got named common just because you see them everywhere, but can't get close enough to actually see what they look like.

An Old Standard

Slaty Skimmer - male

Just a slaty skimmer male. They're easy to photograph and ridiculously common. The only dragonfly I have more photos of is the blue dasher. It has gotten to the point where they have to be lined up perfectly for me to even bother photographing them.
This of course has a huge downside. I've found in some of my old pictures before I was paying attention to dragonflies that I've photographed a few species I haven't seen again. At this point I should be photographing everything and sorting out the images at home as you never know what you actually got until you research.

My Holy Grail... of Dragonflies

12 Spotted Skimmer - Male

I've been going on no hikes all summer, mostly due to work. Yesterday I got up early for something else and decided to suck it up and put my camera in the car. I went a few places, but only Broadmoor had anything I liked, even though I had to keep dodging the kids at camp who were all over screaming into the woods. At least I wasn't trying to look at birds, it would have been impossible with all the shrieking.

It was around ten in the morning and the usual suspects lined up along the Quacking Frog trail between Glacier Hill and Old Orchard Trail. It's the edge of a field with the sun shining into a set of shorter brush and trees and you can find dozens of dragonflies sunning there in the mornings. I picked my next trail about the time the camp caught up with me and wandered to the wildlife pond, which has grown huge and eaten parts of the meadow and killed off the trees that used to line it. The trail close to the pond was closed, but I found this dragonfly sunning himself about 6 feet off the leftover trail. I also almost stepped on several frogs as the footing was a little flooded.

July Amberwing

Amberwing Dragonfly

Since I'm freezing, here's a pic from last July. This is from a set I took then got annoyed with. I'd left the ISO high to get a photo of something else, and I find these photos too noisy. Never mind that you can barely see it even when zoomed in all the way.

Red Dragonfly

Another dragonfly from Sunday. other then it being a type of meadowhawk I've largely given up on ids for the red autumn dragonflies. It could be one of 3 or 4 species, especially if it's female.

Late Blue Dasher

Over the weekend I went apple picking with family, and for the first time in years it was warm and sunny, not cold and drizzling. There were tons of dragonflies flitting about, most of them being the standard red autumn ones, but there were a few blue dashers mixed in.

Black Shouldered Spinyleg

Black Shouldered Spinyleg Dragonfly - Male

Nothing like spotting a new dragonfly. A little worse for wear, but this male sat still enough for me to get a few shots. none of the stellar, but with new stuff sometimes it's all about what is it...

Air Traffic Control

I wish this one was in better focus, but I just had to share it. It was just a little too breezy for this female Amberwing.

Slaty Skimmer

Slaty Skimmer Dragonfly - Male

The other easy dragonfly species. They'll willingly keep coming back to the same spot and are willing to sit for quite some time.

Tis the Season for Amberwings

So On Sunday when I took photos of the fallen tree I upped the ISO on my camera. I didn't care if the photos were grainy, it was dark and I was in a hurry. Move to Monday when I wandered around Hemlock Gorge with the ISO still at 1600. Grr. I don't generally put it past 200, I abhor noise in my photos. I noticed when I got home and started looking at the photos. I was sort of wondering how I was getting the shutter speed the camera kept giving me.

Female Amberwing

I have found a few new hiking locales on the way home from work. One Hemlock Gorge had little flocks of amberwing dragonflies. I saw my first female as well. The males have completely gold wings, the female has pretty bars.

Blue Dasher

Blue Dasher Dragonfly

I find these to be the ubiquitous dragonfly. They're everywhere, in the woods, in the pond, in your yard. They're also calm about being approached if they're perched.

Amberwing

Amberwing Dragonfly

I just visited Cutler Park for the first time last weekend. Not much too interesting, though I went late in the day. There was a trio of amber wings flying just next to the trail. I got close, but this was the best image I got.

Painted Skimmer Dragonfly

Painted Skimmer Dragonfly

A few weeks ago I wandered around Borderland on a Sunday morning. This would be what I found the most interesting. There were plenty of other dragonflies, but nothing else I hadn't seen before.