"Hand-feeded"

[Erland R.N.]

I was out one afternoon in rather cloudy weather, and found a small damselfly perched in the tall grass. I put my finger under its legs, and was able to have it sit on my finger to study it up close. That way I could see that it was a male Ischnura elegans which is very common in Denmark, and not the rare Ischnura pumilio.

Now after walking 20 meters with the damselfly on the finger, I wanted to put it down in the grass again, but there I noticed some small flies sitting on the grass. I slowly moved my finger with the damselfly on it toward a fly, so that the damselfly was pointing toward the fly, and when the distance wwas about 4 centimeters (about 1,5 inch), the damselfly abruptly "jumped" foreward and grabbed the fly with its mouth.

I guess this is as close I will ever get to hand-feed a damelfly

5D, Sigma 180 and 1,4x converter, ringflash, cropped a bit.

[beetleman]

great shot and story. Look at this guy munch on the head of that poor fly...YUM YUM

[salden]

You do have a way with these guys to be able to get one to get on your finger

[Ken Ramos]

I get to much stuff on my fingers. I had a friend once, who had a pet Crappie. He could hold a minnow in the water and the Crappie would come up and take it out of his hand. They were "Barn Door Crappie" too. I caught one measuring 18"!

The poor fly. Well everything has got to eat. A really nice and sharp photo there Erland, very nice indeed, thanks.