Text by Paula Dittrick. Photos from Garrett Engelhardt, Carol Hawkins, Amber Leung, Robbin Mallett, Lynn Trenta, and Shannon Westveer (all TMNCPC members).
August is the month when I stalk dragonflies to keep in practice with my nature photography. I hang out along the edges of ponds in parks looking for insects, particularly dragonflies. An informal survey of a handful of TMNCPC members shows this is a common practice among us.
Lynn Trenta, TMNCPC Courier newsletter editor, and Robbin Mallett, TMNCPC Communications Director, both frequent Cross Creek Ranch in Fulshear.
Garrett Engelhardt and Mallett have enjoyed dragonfly photography at Cullinan Park in Sugar Land. Mallett also has taken dragonfly photographs at Buffalo Run Park in Missouri City. My favorite dragonfly spot this summer has been Shadow Creek Ranch Nature Trail in Pearland.
At Seabourne Creek Nature Park (SCNP) in Rosenberg, 12 observers have reported 8 dragonfly species on iNaturalist since April 2017. The SCNP list shows: Blue Dasher, Eastern Amberwing, Common Whitetail, Roseate Skimmer, Eastern Pondhawk, Four-spotted Pennant, Red Saddlebags, and Calico Pennant.
“Dragonflies have the finest vision in the insect world,” said Dennis Paulson in his field guide Dragonflies and Damselflies of the West. “The compound eyes in the largest species have as many as 30,000 simple eyes (ommatidia), perceiving the world around them…dragonflies are very good at detecting movement.”
Being a predator, the dragonfly always knows the photographer is coming. A photographer’s advantage is that dragonflies tend to concentrate more on finding flying insects than they concentrate on people. My strategy is to move silently and avoid casting a shadow on them.
Dragonflies often return to the same perch (or at least to a perch in the same vicinity). I have watched a male dragonfly make regular patrols out over the water to repeatedly return to the same perching area.
After figuring out its patterns, I move a little closer to the perch while the dragonfly goes out over the water. As he returns, I stop and wait until he leaves on another patrol when I can move closer again to the perch area before his return.
The August heat can become too hot for odonates to stay in the sun so they will move into shade during midday and early afternoon when they can be found resting in shaded areas at or away from the water’s edge.
Another heat strategy is to raise their abdomen pointed straight up, a behavior called obelisking. Sidney W. Dunkle discusses this in his book, Dragonflies through Binoculars, a Field Guide to Dragonflies of North America.
“The raised abdomen reduces the body surface exposed to the sun, as can be seen by the smaller shadow then,” Dunkle said. “However, some King Skimmers raise their abdomens perpendicular to the sun to gain heat, and some dragonflies raise their abdomen as a threat or as part of their normal perching posture.”
Past TMNCPC President Amber Leung provided photographs of obelisking and mating behaviors that she observed at the Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center.
Naturalists tend to be good photographers because they know their natural history, giving them clues on where to find dragonflies and knowing what behavior to expect.
