Damsel Connection

While fishing a few days ago a pair of mating damselflies spent some time perched about the boat providing me with a photographic opportunity.

The attachment between the mating couple is quite secure allowing them to fly in unison. Here you can observe that the attachment is so strong that the lower fly is suspended in mid air with only one leg toughing the boat seat frame.

A Splash of Green: Damselfly

Venturing through the high weeds in the remnants of the path leading to the old swimming hole of my youth I came upon a number of brilliant metallic green Damselflies.

The late evening sunlight lit the scene well as the Damselflies would land on a leaf for a moment, then zoom off only to return to the exact same perch after a few seconds. I didn’t have the tripod or the extension tube with me so I made do shooting handheld at the 400mm lens’s closest focus.

Most of the shots were slightly out of focus since I could not hold the camera still enough to stay in focus but a few were acceptable.

Damselflies come in many sizes and colors with these being some of the largest specimens I have taken notice of.

Damselfly

Today was the perfect May day, clear skies with white fluffy clouds and temps in the mid seventies. After supper I visited our local wetland.

The wetland was a hubbub of activity with a great variety of bird and insect life flitting about. While sitting along the water’s edge my attention was drawn to the diminutive damselflies patrolling the shoreline.

This exquisite little creature perched a few feet from me allowing me to capture a number of handheld macro shots using the 400mm lens with a 25mm extension tube.

Resting Damselfly

Even as a kid I enjoyed watching Damselflies flitting around. Few if any creature is more agile. Their coordination is simple amazing; controlling four wings as they fly at relatively high speed, stopping instantly and hovering in mid-air for extended periods of time and then darting off in seemingly any direction going from zero to top speed in the blink of an eye.

This little Damselfly surprised me as I was photographing wildflowers and butterflies. I was not expecting to see a Damselfly as I was quite some distance from water when it appeared and perched upon this dead weed.

The flight of the damselfly reminds me of that of a helicopter. I have only once had the opportunity to ride in a helicopter. That was over two decades ago but the memory remains fresh. This was the first time I had ever flown and the bird was a two-seat crop-duster with a little clear bubble cockpit. I felt as if I could see all of creation from our vantage point above the West Virginia farm land. At one point the pilot told me we were traveling at 50MPH and a short time later he stated that we were sitting still, I could tell no difference.

Since then I have flown in fixed wing aircraft many times but no flight has been more memorable than that first time in the air. ............Flying like a Damselfly.