For Sunday Stills, Terri writes, this week I challenge you to share images of insects. Ohmigosh! I was beaming from ear to ear when I read that line. This is, at last, a prompt/challenge for which my photography catalogue is very well-equipped. Terri started us off with Hart’s “Dog and Butterfly” — I ask you, is there a nicer way to start your Sunday morning? And for me, Monday morning as well. Best ever Hart song! Thank you, Terri!
Since moving to Essex County, one of my most delightful discoveries has been The Caldwell First Nations’ Boardwalk. Beneath the elevated boardwalk network there is a natural meadow and, flitting all about that wildflower haven, I’ve spotted, shot and studied loads of Damselflies and Dragonflies — Odonates — and honestly, I’ve fallen a little in love with them. They’re beautiful, graceful, wicked-fast, fly backwards!!!, fly sideways!!!, hover, are fierce predators and ethereally elegant insects. Magicians of motion, one might say.
The Odonates of Essex County
This brilliant green insect is a female dragonfly, eating a fly for her lunch. Fun Fact: The dragonfly in my header picture is this lady’s male counterpart. Strange but true! The exact same species! Whilst the female stays a vivid, green throughout her life, the male undergoes a massive color makeover as he ages. Over time, he loses his green camouflage and develops a frosty, powdery layer called pruinosity, transforming him into this beautiful dusty, sky-blue. His head, though, remains unchanged.
The Whiteface is a bit of an uncommon treasure in this area. This is a highly specialized skimmer that spends its life around boggy marshes beaver ponds.
This is an incredibly special moment in its life — the Teneral Stage! This “newborn” adult has just crawled out of its underwater skin and expanded its wings for the very first time. Oh, my, she was positively preening!
Dragonfly mating behaviour.
Fun Fact: Jewelwings belong to a family known as “broad-winged damselflies”. They thrive in shady areas near slow-moving woodland streams and creeks. When they fly, they don’t dart quickly about like dragonflies; instead, they flutter gently, more like a butterfly. That crisp white wing spot is an absolute guarantee that this graceful flyer is a female.
This identification (not done by me), was one of the most fascinating to me. The aging process of this species causes it to change colour throughout its lifetime. Juvenile, female Eastern Forktails are bright orange, however, as they mature, their bodies slowly cover themselves in a wax-like coating called pruinosity, giving them this beautiful, pale dusty-blue and dark slate-gray colour.
Needles of Light, Jewels of Air
Beside the slow creek where the shadows run deep,
The wild garden wakes while the bogs are asleep.
A cellophane shimmer, a sudden sharp gleam,
The ghosts of the marshland awake by the stream.
With flat-open wings like a plane in the sky,
The skimmer looks down as the midges dart by.
Twelve spots on her coat, or a jacket of green,
She rules over the porch like a predatory queen.
While on the lily pad, where the tall reeds lean,
An empty white shell shows where magic has been.
Then fluttering soft as a dark velvet flame,
The jewelwing dances, well-built for her name.
With bronze-smoky wings and a single white dot,
She claims the cool shade of her favorite spot.
And neon-blue needles, so fragile and thin,
Fold up their clear sails to look like a fin.
The forktails turn dusty, the meadowhawks pair,
In wheels made of hearts on the warm summer air.
They hunt through the heat till the season grows old,
Turning the meadow into sapphire and gold.
These ethereal gems that appeared in spring,
Now bid us farewell with a fluttering wing.
Many thanks to dear Terri for my favourite (so far) Sunday Stills prompt, and for Hart! Her post is spectacular — please have a visit — you’ll enjoy her narrative and her images are stunning. It’ll be the nicest time of your day, promise:
Sunday Stills: Animal of the Month–Dog and Butterfly
’Til next time, y’all…
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