Dragonflies

Photos taken:
2022/09/15
&
2022/09/17

Dragonflies!

I feel like dragonflies are one of the few insects that even people who dislike bugs think are super cool. I mean look at them! The huge compound eyes, a thorax that resembles a helicopter, and four beautiful wings like stained glass windows. What a cool looking bug!

This photo was taken by my Mum; her phone takes higher resolution photos than mine but seems to have a much harder time focusing, so some parts of the dragonfly have come out really clear and others are kinda blurry.

Photo of a brown dragonfly sitting on the rim of a blue bowl. Its thorax has a few patches of light yellow on the top and has fine hairs where it connects to the dragonfly's head. Its legs are spikey and have pale stripes running down them, and its abdomen is scored with dark black lines, bands of pale yellow, and a seam running down the middle. The dragonfly has four long and intricate wings that are spread out across the bowl. The wings are mostly transparent apart from the tips which have a light brown colouration resembling stained glass.

Fortunately the dragonfly had been resting in the same spot for a while so I had a perfect opportunity to get out and take a clearer photo on my phone, but me being a clumsy oaf, I walked right up to it and scared it off before I even got a chance to take out my camera...

Oftentimes taking insect photos requires a great deal of dexterity and care, neither of which I possess.

This would have been my only close up picture of a dragonfly but luckily a few a days later another one landed in the same location and kept still long enough for me to stick a camera right up in its face. Take that, dexterity and care!

Photo of another dragonfly sitting on the bowl from the first picture. This dragonfly is redder in colour and has darker and blacker colouration on the legs. There is a little patch of yellow running up the side of its thorax.

As to what species these two are, it's quite hard for me to tell; not only do dragonflies look similar to the untrained eye but their colouration also depends on the gender and age of the beast, with older dragonflies becoming darker and more vivid in colour as they get older.

The best guess I have is that the pale striped legs on the first dragonfly might indicate it being a common darter, whereas the darker legs and redder abdomen of the second dragonfly means it might be a ruddy darter. However, both are very similar looking dragonflies and are often mistaken for each other so it is entirely possible I'm incorrect here.

These weren't the only dragonflies I managed to find this summer tho. A few months earlier I was lucky enough to be outside during a mass swarm, where there was easily twenty dragonflies flying back and forth and around my head! From what I understand, this is related to how they mate.

I recorded the swarm but they fly so fast all I really got was a few frames of footage at best. Here's the results:

Short loop of a dragonfly flying past a wooden fence. You can just about see its very fast moving wings.

*Nyoooomm!*

Short loop of a dragonfly swooping up for a few frames and then back down. It passes by a few plants as it does so.

I like the way this one swoops up and then down again.

Short loop of a dragonfly gliding left and right. It seems to have banded lines on its abdomen.

And really love the way this one rocks side to side in the air as it adjusts its flight.

Very cool bugs!