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August 17 – last of the dragonflies

I had a telephoto lens on the camera as I was trying to capture a shot of a strangely exotic-looking bird (focus failure!) but when this dragonfly landed next to me I stepped back about 5 feet and took the photo below. I think it looks like a picture of a plastic toy, reminiscent of childhood purchases from Woolworths. The reflective quality of the wings almost certainly means that this is a recently hatched dragonfly (female teneral common darter??)

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I walked  to the house, switched the lens, and went back out not really expecting the dragonfly to still be around so I was delighted to find it in the same spot.  This is the first time I have managed to take a series of shots of the same one; I think I may have reached my zenith where dragonflies are concerned so these will be the last photographs of them on my blog this year.

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August 14 – close encounter with a dragonfly

I did some work by the wild garden pond this afternoon; the sun came out and with it came some dragonflies. I always keep a camera nearby and  first I took this blurry shot

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closely followed by this blurry shot

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Just as I concluded I had discovered the world’s first jet-propelled dragonfly I heard a scratchy sound in the reeds at my feet; when I looked down there was this beautiful creature perched on my boot

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I had a tiny gap in the reeds to film through; the focus on the shot is not great and the wings are not complete but I will treasure this picture as if it were a masterpiece.