Capturing Red Dragons

Yesterday I got out for a bit and wandered around the pond. Lots of cool finds, as always. And, I finally snuck up on a dragonfly and got some decent shots.

Bugs in general have always been a fascination for me. Empty containers-margarine bowls, coffee cans, peanut butter jars, etc..were trasformed into my display cases. I even converted my Mom's laundry pails that she used to soak her silk stockings. She was NOT happy with that choice. I would cart my bug treasures around to the horror of many of the neighbors and share my finds with the neighborhood kids. I had to leave them outside at night and Dad would kindly leave the lids off and let many of them escape. (I didn't catch on to that until I was older. :)

But, dragonflies were a different story. Giant wings buzzing around my grandparents' pond while I was fishing with my Dad. Well, to be honest, HE fished while I caught grasshoppers and katydids for bait. My ADD brain just would not allow me to sit for long. So he would fish, I would sort of fish while he would watch my bobber, and I would look for bait. I would try to sneak up on the dragonflies, but never caught them. So colorful, and big, and fast. Never succeeding made them magical to me...

Nowadays, the problem is capturing them with the camera. The normal scenario unfolds like this. I spot a cool dragon. I quietly try to sneak up on it and right when I get where I want to snap a pic, ZOOM, off it goes. And I am left with a picture of a stick. Frustrating! So yesterday, I moved ever so slowly, barely inching closer and closer, snapping shots as I went.

Patience paid off. Here is a shot from behind. This red and orange looker is a Halloween Pennant, Celithemis eponina . The pattern on its back wings look somewhat like a Jack-o-latern's face. This is a male, the females are similar but paler and a little more orange, than red, in color. It is showing a cool behavior called obelisking. By putting its abdomen high in the air, like an obelisk, it lessens the surface area exposed to the sun, thus keeping it from overheating.

It is now aware of me. Slightly turning so it could keep a watch on me. "I am watching you, so no fast moves, buddy!" This behavior gives them the "pennant" name, like a pennant waving in the wind.

Now it is face on, checking me out to see if I am a risk. You can notice all the veins in the wing. They help strengthen the wing for flight. Finally off it flew, deciding I had ventured too close.

Five minutes later, this huge red dragon flew by, but I could not get a pic of it. It was a gorgeous Red Saddlebags, Tramea onusta. Sigh...I guess I will have to "slay" it another day. (This photo is from BugGuide by Gary Rankin.)

For more ABC WEDNESDAY posts visit here. and visit Nature Notes here.