Dragonhunter and friends

[fishbio]

Hi All

It's getting exciting in Whiteshell Provincial Park with more large dragonflies finally emerging. All pictures with 200mm f4, tripod, aperture priority. C&C always welcome.

The first Dragonhunters are on the wing. This Gomphid or clubtail dragonfly is over 3"/80mm long and eats anything it wants!

Hagenius brevistylus, female

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Here are a couple of relatives of the Dragonhunter. Telling them apart requires looking at the shape of the abdomen, which abdominal segments have yellow markings, how the side of the thorax is marked, and on males, what the "claspers" at the end of the abdomen look like:

Dusky Clubtail, Gomphus spicatus, male

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Lancet clubtail, Gompus exilis

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A dragon from a different family

Stream cruiser, Didympos transversa, male

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and from the large group of mosaic darners:

Canada darner, Aeshna canadensis, female

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[spalding12]

Larry,
what an awesome series
just fantastic

i appreciate you sharing these with us

 

[BUCKEYE BIKER]

Wonderful shots, Larry. I find the colors and detail amazing. Dragon flies are certainly interesting creatures. Thanks for sharing them.

 

[WHISTLING_WINGS]

Hey fellow Winnipeger!

Nice finds and series, thought I was the only one here from Manitoba or Winnipeg.

Do you know the F. or shutter speed? It's always helpful not only for people here but so you can look back and see when you get one of those what went wrong shoots.

Anyway glad your having fun look forward to more posts.

Darrell

 

[Phil K]

Great set Larry. Very sharp and beautiful captures.

 

[TomP]

Stunning series Larry! Glad you are seeing some action up there, after the winter y'all had, you deserve it. That is an awesome lens, and obviously in very capable hands.

 

[fishbio]

Thanks for looking Greg, Tom, Darrell, Phil and Tom. I'm glad you like them. It can be really frustrating getting pictures of these guys, but when you nail one in focus from antennae to cerci, it's a great feeling.

Darrell: the EXIF data is intact in these pictures so you can extract the technical details. I'm contacting you off-line.

Cheers,

Larry

 

[Sanford504]

Fantstic shots! What type of locatons should I find these insects?

 

[fishbio]

Fantstic shots! What type of locatons should I find these insects?

Thank you.

Their larvae live in water, so ponds, marshes, swamps, lakes, fens, bogs streams, creeks and rivers are where you find them patrolling and laying eggs. They may wander far from water to feed (on other insects). I photograph them along small roads and trails in forested areas. Water is nevr too far away, though.

This morning I found quite a few in a city park along a river. The smaller damselflies are often near cattails, sedges or tall grass near water.

Cheers,

Larry

 

[tojor]

Top drawer shots. I always love to see dragonflies from streaming waters as they are very rare in my part of the world. Great job. Love the aeshna too.

 

[j.ankanpaa]

WOW!

Those are some serious Dragons! I would love to see those some day!

Excellent shooting, Larry!

 

[Spectre]

Larry,
What a great set. I look forward to seeing more.

 

[fishbio]

Thank you Torben, Jukka and Paul.

I went out today again I found 2 more "lifers" but obtained photos of only one :frown: I haven't looked at the pictures yet, I hope they are OK.

Cheers,

Larry