Howard Faxon
Dragonflies have existed on the earth for over 250 million years which is quite remarkable. Another interesting thing about them is that they can move each of their four wings independently. This makes them incredibly adept at flying. They can fly straight up or down and also backwards. They can reach a speed of about 30 miles per hour.They need good vision to safely maneuver so quickly and they have that as well. Their huge eyes cover almost all of their head and they use around 80% of their brain to process visual information. A dragonfly has nearly 360 degrees of vision.
Every summer I get a few pictures of them in my yard. This is one of my favorites that I have taken and it’s from last summer. The plant it’s perched on, the bokeh, and the position of the sun were all pretty much perfect and I got an incredible set of around 20 photos of this one. I noticed that if you approach one that is perched and it flies away then stay there they will often return to the same perch.
Oh what a great idea! Wisdom indeed. I had moved from California… to Tejas… to New York so that is a radical change for some creatures and life cycles etc. Thanks for sharing that! I let years go by just figuring that out instead of researching.
I think that is a wonderful idea.. I do the same thing if I can. We don’t have to go far at all!
The pictures make identifying them possible without catching a specimen. It’s better. After I found out which butterflies were living here I could look up the host plants and the life cycle for them and it helps to decide what to do when in my yard. I lived in a city for over 3 decades so I had to do some observing to understand where I live now.
Great photo! The detail is fabulous!
Thank you so much. It took me a bit of practice but I get some good macro shots out of hundreds – I made it a project to try to document everything living in or visiting my yard
They are beautiful creatures.
It’s incredible to think that they have been around so long. Apparently they used to be much larger also.
Interesting information… especially about them returning to the same perch! I find they hover pretty well too… And I seem to also find them ‘chasing’ cars sometimes… lol
What has happened to me often is that they will be perched and I’ll try to approach and they fly off so I stop and stay right there and often they come back to the same spot. sometimes several times in a row. That’s how I got the 30 some pictures I have of them.
I always learn something new. Lovely creature and interesting macro
Thanks very much. Cheers
Nice photo.
Thanks man.
We used to catch dragonflies when we were young. 🙂
I never have caught one except on camera. Not always easy to get close even for that.
Great capture! I’ve never gotten close enough to a dragonfly so I better get at it! It may see me first!
Thank you so much. I started taking macros and other pics of things that visited my yard so I could try to ID them. It turned out to be fun also.
I love this – great picture
Thank you very much. Cheers.
Thats a great capture
Thanks. It is my favorite dragonfly of the 40 or 50 that I have.
Great detail on the wings. I love dragonflies but they aren’t always easy to capture!
The sun position offered a view without ant reflection. It was a moment of luck. Thanks so much.
Great post. Interesting!
Thanks so much. Cheers.