My local dragonflies

Images of undisturbed subjects in their natural environment. All subject types.

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Troels
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Location: Denmark, Engesvang
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My local dragonflies

Post by Troels »

I have decided to try to dokument the fauna of dragonflies at our local lake and stream.
Here are a few pictures of the nicest moments from today.
Lestes_sponsa_BoSo_rez1024_DMap133-34.jpg
Full size on Flickr
The wonderful metallic Common Spreadwing (Lestes sponsa). Stacked from two handheld exposures.
Erythromma_najas_mating_BoSo_rez1024.jpg
Full size on Flickr
This might look confusing at first because of the reflections in the water.
It is a mating pair of Large Redeye (Erythromma najas). The male sits on the plant stem.
His abdomen goes down in the "hole" in the water where it grips around the submerged female's (invisible) neck.
The female has pulled the surface of the water down like a funnel and only her wings protude above the surface.
The reflection of her wings is of course curved by the reflecting curved water surface.
A few moments later she disappered completely und water.
[Edit 27-07-2021: Changed a link to Flickr to correct for a double upload]
Last edited by Troels on Mon Jul 26, 2021 3:11 pm, edited 1 time in total.
Troels Holm, biologist (retired), environmentalist, amateur photographer.
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rjlittlefield
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Re: My local dragonflies

Post by rjlittlefield »

The second one is lovely -- great capture of a surprising aspect of the life of this damselfly!

--Rik

MarkSturtevant
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Re: My local dragonflies

Post by MarkSturtevant »

Those are beautiful. That 2nd one is very special!
Mark Sturtevant
Dept. of Still Waters

micro_pix
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Re: My local dragonflies

Post by micro_pix »

Great capture! Beautifully executed.

Dave

Troels
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Re: My local dragonflies

Post by Troels »

Rik, Mark and Dave,

Thanks for nice replies,
I appreciate it.

Troels
Troels Holm, biologist (retired), environmentalist, amateur photographer.
Visit my Flickr albums

Troels
Posts: 600
Joined: Mon Feb 15, 2016 11:06 am
Location: Denmark, Engesvang
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Re: My local dragonflies

Post by Troels »

I have now taken my time to sort and edit the rest of the (600+) pictures from that nice day.
Here is a follow up to my first picture of the egglaying Redeyed Damselfly from a few days ago.
Placing her eggs furter down on the plant stem the female slowly moved deeper down into the water and the male followed.

Erythromma_najas_mating_BoSo_14jul21_0442_rez1024.JPG
This picture from a few moments later shows how the big funnel shown i my former post has "collapsed". The wings of the female and the abdomen of the male are now separated by water. You can see a hint of the female's head just below the point where the male's abdomen penetrates the surface.

Erythromma_najas_mating_BoSo_14jul21_0453_rez1024.jpg
Here the female is completely submerged. You can se the upper edge of her wings as a light streak in the water just above the reflection of the male's wings.

The real mating (forming the well-known wheel or heart) has ended before she started the eggaying, so I wonder why the male keeps his grip on her neck. It could protect her from beeing "attacked" by other males and disturbed in the egglaying process. And perhaps she benefits from some mechanical support while climbing around in the water and perhaps beeing pulled upwards by surface tension or airbubbles?

I had to sit down to get the right angle and support. At this moment I discoverede my pants were soaked wet. So I don't know how it ended. I saw an other female floating around apparently dead.

You might wonder why it is called Big Redeye since the eyes of the shown male are only brown-reddish. This male must be a newly matured specimen. Later the red color becomes more striking. Like in this older male:
Erythromma_najas_BoSo_14jul21_DMap371-75_rez1024.jpg
Stack of 4 pictures.
All images taken handheld with the Olympus 40-150mm f: 2.8 + 1.4 teleconverter and cropped more or less.
Troels Holm, biologist (retired), environmentalist, amateur photographer.
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leonardturner
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Re: My local dragonflies

Post by leonardturner »

A really visually striking series of images, with a most helpful narrative explanation. Thank you!

Leonard

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