I had thought with all of our cool daytime highs and very cool nights, my dragons would be out of sight. Sunday was beautiful and the high topped out at about 72 degrees. Can you imagine my excitement when this darner flew right in front of me, maybe 7 -8 feet away and landed?! It was a little breezy, and of course, Patches kept brushing up against me to pet her(I was sitting on the hill facing my cattails). The pictures aren't clear, I felt I had to rush and click, click , click....no time to experiment with settings! The reason being is that for my larger dragons, they have always been so elusive...they enjoy teasing me. They'll fly high, do a surprise zoom past me, or I'll turn around and one was just behind me and quickly flies away! I'm going out on a limb here...I'm fairly certain this is the Green-striped Darner of the Mosaics'. By the coloring...I'd assume it's a male. Anybody???????
I had thought with all of our cool daytime highs and very cool nights, my dragons would be out of sight. Sunday was beautiful and the high topped out at about 72 degrees. Can you imagine my excitement when this darner flew right in front of me, maybe 7 -8 feet away and landed?! It was a little breezy, and of course, Patches kept brushing up against me to pet her(I was sitting on the hill facing my cattails). The pictures aren't clear, I felt I had to rush and click, click , click....no time to experiment with settings! The reason being is that for my larger dragons, they have always been so elusive...they enjoy teasing me. They'll fly high, do a surprise zoom past me, or I'll turn around and one was just behind me and quickly flies away! I'm going out on a limb here...I'm fairly certain this is the Green-striped Darner of the Mosaics'. By the coloring...I'd assume it's a male. Anybody???????
10 comments:
I would say that you have a mosaic darner. Now, the question is, which one?
Tom
Hi Tom...Let me tell you my reasoning on why I think it's the Green-striped Darner. Now, I'm referring to my D&D book on this I.D....they are especially fond of cattails in their habitat, that's where he was when I shot the photo. I know the shots aren't the clearest, I zoomed in on all the photos. His face IS yellow-green and green eyes. (what's a T-spot?) His thoractic stripes are green(not blue-green) I truly don't have a clear enough view of the wings...I realize this isn't a positive I.D...maybe it is the Lance-tipped, although I don't recall from my distance seeing blue in the stripes. I thought I read somewhere Darners will stay around till mid-October? Is this true...also my Meadowhawks are still here ...even today as last nights' low was 40 degrees. It's my understanding usually they disappear late September. Hey...I'm not complaining! P.S....I understand my dashboard now! If anyone can botch something on the computer...that would be me!
hey spookydragonfly,
I really DO NOT know anything about dragon flies but I think you are prety good at identifing them!
Thank you, Aweso...I've got alot to learn! Glad you like the dragons...study hard while you are so young!
Good job in spotting them. I have nothing to add for its ID as I find this group a bit tricky.
Gallicissa...My photos just aren't clear enough,(and in this case too sun-washed, also), for proper I.D. At least I know what it basically is. I've tried messing with my picasa...to take away some of that sun effect to no avail. I was like a child...I was so excited when he decided to land in front of me! Would a better camera, such as the one you mentioned...help in reducing that sun effect automatically somehow? Or would I have to have a sophisticated camera for that?(and that's not going to happen). I'm hoping to catch him/her when it's a cloudy day.
The sort of lighting you seemed to have had for this darner shot - I think you could have done some justice with Panasonic Lumix FZ -18shooting in manual mode - taking full contol of things.
If I were you, I would not wait until next summer to upgrade the camera but would buy one immediately and play with it to get enough practice with other subjects. That way, by the time dragons emerge next year, you will have enough skills aquired to hunt 'em.
Gallicissa..Thanks, I know I'll never have photos such as yours...but hey, is there an award for most taken and deleted photos?! Maybe a "Good Try!!" award?! I'd love to purchase that camera you mentioned..right now...but, bad timing. I'll have to be patient...something that is not always that easy for me!
The thoracic stripes look pretty yellowish to me. Given the date, I'd offer Shadow Darner as another likely candidate. We're not too far away...and they are the most common.
For many reasons, I would not hazard ID'ing many Aeshnas with only a photograph. I've collected completely blue Shadow Darners, and once a Canada Darner that was normal on one side of the thorax, and with broken stripes like a Mottled Darner on the other.
Nannothemis...Thank you so much for the visit...and especially for the opinion! It seems you're an expert...I need all the help I can get! Last year we had a few dragons, this year we had many. I just started photographing them this year, I am just starting to learn of I.D. I find it very difficult. Thank you!
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