Dragonfly!
Guess it was bound to happen... Spend enough time in the garden fussing with the birds, and sooner or later some dragonfly would pause in front of our lens and the wife or I would get a good photo... And then we'd be off on another hobby... This time Mrs. CCA took the shots (using the diminutive Vivitar 8600s), and the rest will no doubt be history...
Now is that neat or what?!? To see the complete set of pics in all their glory, click here. (Be sure to use the "All Sizes" option to see these creatures in detail.)
So what have we got? As best we can tell, the wee beastie above is a "Gomphus borealis" (aka a Beaverpond Clubtail Dragonfly). But to take a quick step back, two things seem to give away his general lineage... First, he's resting with his wings open and forward. Secondly, his rear set of wings swell in size as they approach the torso. (Typically, the "dragonfly wanna be" damselfly exhibit neither of these traits.)
Onward...
Other cool stuff about the dragonfly...
- They're harmless to humans
- They eat mosquitoes and flies (We need to attract more of these critters!)
- Dragonflies as a species are apx. 300 million years old. Compare that to birds at roughly 200 million years, and humans at 0.1 million years.... Hmmm...
Ok, one more last, last note... Just for fun... Does anyone care to document the little tan rectangles on the outer leading edges of the wings?
See you by the feeders,
CapeCodAlan
eBirdseed.com photo library
Comments
I have to be honest... Both my 13 year old "I know everything" teenager and I can't believe the photo is not straight out of a Disney adventure! Those are fantastic photos! I can't believe the detail you caught in the photos! What beautiful creatures. What great photographers! Congratulations!
Mrs. CCA says: Believe it! That dragonfly sat on the post for nearly 45 minutes, and I was afraid a bird was going to pick him/her off as a tasty morsel for lunch! That said, it was just dumb luck and a decent camera that allowed me to get those shots... skill had nothing to do with it!
Posted by: Marcia | July 19, 2008 6:58 PM
Would like to get an estimate of his size - can you give a ballpark size of the top of the stick/post he's sitting on?
From Mrs. CCA... The top of his perch is apx. 0.5" in diameter... So the total wingspan would probably fall in the 2" - 3" range...
Posted by: Joanne | July 19, 2008 11:10 PM