A Banner Darner Day

Last weekend, I spent some time at Rose Lake State Wildlife Area trying to photograph the last good dragonflies of the season.  With the cool and much shorter autumn days arriving, the dragonflies will be scarcer each day we get closer to winter.  I ventured out to the little two-acre clearing in the middle of the forest where I always have good luck finding dragonflies.  That day was no exception.  I photographed a number of dragonflies, including the best closeups of Lance-Tipped Darners that I have ever gotten.  I was also surprised the sighting of both a male and female Shadow Darner (the female is the brownish dragonfly, third picture up from the bottom) and a few Canada Darners.  Both the Shadow and Canada Darners have this part of the state in their range, but I have never seen either this far south.

The Eyes Have It

Dragonfly eyes never cease to amaze me.  I like being able to get up as close as I can to photograph the eyes, especially when the light is at the right angle to capture outline of the the individual lenses.  Some species of dragonflies will remain still enough to allow me to get close enough to get good pictures.  Others are more skittish and fly away as soon as you get too close.

Dragonflies Are Everywhere!

This spring has been amazing for dragonflies, especially my favorites - the Clubtails.  A few years ago by complete accident, I discovered Riverbend Natural Area, which is part of Ingham County Park system south of Lansing.  There is a big prairie near the Grand River and surrounded by forest where dragonflies of many different species hunt and roost.  The conditions must just be right to make this a perfect habitat for Clubtails, as several species can be spotted on any given day in May and June.  This spring I have already seen nine different species there and I expect a few more will emerge soon.  Given the special conditions there, I always keep my eyes open for Clubtail species that I have not seen in the past, as I figure they may be there and I just have not encountered them yet.

Stained Glass Wings

The fresh wings of a very young clubtail dragonfly glisten in the sunshine and take on an almost stained glass appearance.

Dragonfly Season Has Arrived

On Saturday, I had a very short window of time to head out to Rose Lake State Wildlife Research Area.  I had gone out to look for any late Ringed Boghaunter dragonflies that might still be flying, but found none.  However, the woods was alive with several other species, a number of which I had the chance to capture images.  The little open space in the middle of the woods that so often is swarming with dragonflies did not disappoint.  I counted nine separate species in just a short period of time and photographed five of them.  Other than the two species of Clubtail dragonflies I saw, all the other species had numerous individual dragonflies buzzing around the clearing.  I really like this area as it always seems so alive and it amazes me how diverse it is.  It would be an ideal place for someone just beginning to study dragonflies to visit.

The Great Boghaunter Hunt 2015

Female Ringed Boghaunter

After an unsuccessful day of trying to track down a Ringed Boghaunter (Williamsonia lintneri) Dragonfly that would hold still enough for a photograph yesterday, I had success today in finding one.  Its very shiny wings and milky grey eyes indicate that it is fairly young.  I only saw this one and a mating pair that flew away to parts unknown today, so I hope that this simply means that it is still too early for them to be out in large numbers like last spring.  I photographed this one a distance from the bog where they were prevalent last year and where I encountered a few yesterday.  With the continued warm weather this coming week, I shall venture out to Rose Lake later to see if more have emerged.

While I was out yesterday, I ran into two other Boghaunter hunters, Mark O'Brien and Darrin O'Brien.  They had driven up from the Ann Arbor area to see if they could net a specimen or two.  It sounds like a while after I had moved on to another location, Darrin finally captured one in his net.  Mark also gave me some interesting tidbits about the habitat of the Hine's Emerald Dragonfly, an endangered species.  A prime habitat for these is within a few miles of our cabin up north.  I hope that with this knowledge, I can photograph this species in June when I spend a week up north.  It was nice to finally put faces with names I have seen on other websites and blogs related to dragonflies in Michigan.  I am also excited that my meager attempts to photograph insects that I think are fascinating has helped expand the knowledge about a rare species in Michigan.

I also came across other dragonflies again today, including Dot-tailed Whitefaces (Leucorrhinia intacta), more Beaverpond Baskettails, and a few male Common Green Darners (Anax junius).  The Whitefaces are a similar size as the Boghaunters and fly in the same general area, so I chased a few of them today that I had initially hoped were the Boghaunters.

Female Dot-tailed Whiteface Dragonfly

Male Beaverpond Baskettail Dragonfly

First Dragonflies Of The Season

I ventured out to Rose Lake State Wildlife Area this afternoon in search of the elusive Ringed Boghaunter that I found out there last spring.  The earlier warm spring weather led me to believe that they might already be emerging.  I did spot a number of them, but did not have the chance to photograph one.  I shall try again tomorrow, as it is supposed to be another beautiful day.

I was very surprised to encounter another species of dragonfly, the Beaverpond Baskettail (Epitheca canis).  All of these were freshly emerged with milky grey eyes, instead of the metallic turquoise eyes of the mature form of this species.  Many also still had very shiny, fresh wings without the darkened veins.

A Suprise Dragonfly

A few weeks ago, I wrote about how I had seen what probably was my last dragonfly of the season.  Thankfully, I was wrong in a really good way.  Last weekend I stopped along a stream near by our cabin to photograph some dew-laden spider webs.  From the corner of my eye I glanced a very large dragonfly hovering.  It kept darting in an out of the foliage along the stream bank and hovering there for a few moments as it traversed the length of the stream.  I immediately recognized that it was a member of the darner family, but I had never seen this sort of hovering flight pattern.  Individual darner species can be very difficult to identify without having the opportunity to see several parts of their anatomy.  The first one I encountered seemed to enjoy me taking photos of it in midair and hovered patiently as I snapped photos.  It never landed, but I did get good enough photos of it side stripes and the tip of its abdomen to make an identification.  It was a male Shadow Darner (Aeshna umbrosa), a species that I had yet to see.  Later that day, encountered a very docile female Shadow Darner perched in the sunshine.  With these photographs, I have added the thirteenth new species to my list this year, bringing my total list to 62 unique species.  I have about double that to go to see all the dragonfly species in Michigan.  Ironically, some of the more common ones I have never seen, while I have photographed four species that most people never see.

One Last Dragonfly Of The Season

I am pretty sure I would find more dragonflies this fall if I really looked hard, but they will mostly be the more common Meadowhawks of which I have too many photos.  So, I have decided to call the season done and focus on other things to photograph.  In a few weeks, the leaves should be turning and that will give me plenty to capture.

My last picture of a dragonfly above was not a new one, but one I have only seen one other time for only a brief moment.  The one above is a female Black-Shouldered Spinyleg Dragonfly.  I caught a glimpse of it as Valerie and I were on a walk last Saturday at the cabin.  Like the previous one I had encountered of this species, it too was wary of my presence.  I had to ease up to it slowly as it basked in the waning rays of the setting sun on a cool night.  The falling temperature was probably the only reason it stayed on the leaf so long sunning itself.

Random Dragoflies

Common Whitetail Dragonfly (Libellula lydia) - Adult Male

Common Whitetail Dragonfly (Libellula lydia) - Adult Female

Common Green Darner Dragonfly (Anax junius) - Juvenile Male

Up North Critters