Today, Karla and I were out at Petit Jean State Park along the upper Cedar Creek trail (below Davies Bridge) and found a large group of Damselflies. I thought they were dragonflies until I learned that dragonflies typicaly rest with their wings facing away from their body. Damselflies rest with their wings along their body.
And then came the ID game. I think the first two are Black Damselfly - Calopteryx maculata. Female having the white spot on the end of the wing.
Third, fourth and fifth? I cant ID them.
Had tons of fun chasing these little fellows.
Anyone interested, I can give better details where to find them.
Great series! As I recall, Damselflies do not eat. They live a short while, mate, lay eggs and then expire. Very interesting lifecycle. Also, very successful.
I tried with no flash and the colors just didn't do it for me. Most of these are ISO400 and 1/250th. They are very tame. I even put my finger under one and it crawled up onto my finger. Many different types and tons of fun trying to get the focus perfect from end to end. Or you can try something like this picture. Small amount of cropping.
A viewer of my blog named Tom had some names to go along with the pictures. There is conflicting info online and I'm not sure of the names either.
Black winged damselflies are Ebony Jewelwings- white dot is female
#1 is a Powdered Dancer female
#2 Powdered Dancer male
#3 American Rubyspots
All are about 4 inches long and I was using a 105mm macro at about one foot away. Most images are full screen (slight crop) except for the extreme close-up (about 50percent crop).
Posted by Wayne Rhodus on July 7, 2009 at 10:28 AM
It looks like you were having fun Mike. My favorite from this selection is number 2. Nice bg with the leaf and most of the damselfly is in sharp focus.
Discussion
13 repliesAnd then came the ID game. I think the first two are Black Damselfly - Calopteryx maculata. Female having the white spot on the end of the wing.
Third, fourth and fifth? I cant ID them.
Had tons of fun chasing these little fellows.
Anyone interested, I can give better details where to find them.
Mike Hall
Note: Sorry I washed out the leaves.
Black winged damselflies are Ebony Jewelwings- white dot is female
#1 is a Powdered Dancer female
#2 Powdered Dancer male
#3 American Rubyspots
All are about 4 inches long and I was using a 105mm macro at about one foot away. Most images are full screen (slight crop) except for the extreme close-up (about 50percent crop).