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Flying dragons

Ron Who · 270 · 17015

nl Offline Ron Who

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Re: Flying dragons
Reply #210 on: May 20, 2018, 04:03:21 PM
It´s Pentecost and I´m having a week off. There are several things I could do to spend the holidays, like visiting the Pinkpop festival, or, in my hometown, Jazz in Duketown.

However, even though I love music, I chose to go hunting dragonflies. The weather forecast for this week is favorable and I´m planning to picture a few rare species. I´ll be riding my bicycle for about 150 miles in order to do this. Today was a successful day as I spotted a number of Blue Chasers. It´s the males that are blue, the females have a lovely honey color, as shown below.
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« Last Edit: May 20, 2018, 04:14:00 PM by Ron Who »


nl Offline Ron Who

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Re: Flying dragons
Reply #211 on: May 20, 2018, 05:05:27 PM
Male Blue Chaser
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« Last Edit: May 20, 2018, 05:16:37 PM by Ron Who »


nl Offline Ron Who

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Re: Flying dragons
Reply #212 on: May 20, 2018, 10:26:18 PM
This is one from two weeks ago, black with red dots and, barely visible, a white snout -- male Ruby Whiteface.
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us Offline El Corkscrew

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Re: Flying dragons
Reply #213 on: May 21, 2018, 01:45:54 AM
 :like: :like: :like: :like: :like:
“All you need in this life is ignorance and confidence, and then success is sure.” - Mark Twain


nl Offline Ron Who

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Re: Flying dragons
Reply #214 on: May 21, 2018, 09:48:33 AM
Thanks, Dan !  :cheers:


nl Offline Ron Who

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Re: Flying dragons
Reply #215 on: May 21, 2018, 05:43:24 PM
More successes! After posting my 199th sighting of the Banded Demoiselle yesterday, I wanted to do the 200th today. Done! (first pic)

I went to a small woodland stream called Beerze today, and there I made my first ever pics of two species that are quite rare here - the Beautiful Demoiselle (second pic) and the Common Clubtail (third pic). I´m over the moon!
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« Last Edit: May 21, 2018, 06:22:28 PM by Ron Who »


nl Offline Ron Who

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Re: Flying dragons
Reply #216 on: May 21, 2018, 08:55:12 PM
In some countries, Demoiselles are called Jewelwings.


nl Offline Ron Who

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Re: Flying dragons
Reply #217 on: May 22, 2018, 09:15:54 AM
One more from last Sunday, a Green-eyed Hawker, my first of the year.
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gb Offline Fast Bill

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Re: Flying dragons
Reply #218 on: May 22, 2018, 10:54:36 AM
Exquisite photo's Ron. The blues and greens are just so striking  :like:
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us Offline Aloha

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Re: Flying dragons
Reply #219 on: May 22, 2018, 03:29:13 PM
I've moved and sadly I haven't seen any Dragonflies.  It doesn't mean theyre not around but my yard may not encourage them to come around  :(.

Wonderful pictures Ron.  We are getting Humming Birds tho so thats good.   
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nl Offline Ron Who

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Re: Flying dragons
Reply #220 on: May 22, 2018, 03:39:31 PM
My luck is holding. Today I pictured a Ruby Whiteface and a few (rare) Yellow-spotted Whitefaces. My favourite pic of today is the fourth, a couple Blue Emperors.


nl Offline Ron Who

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Re: Flying dragons
Reply #221 on: May 22, 2018, 06:24:08 PM
Dragonfly Tattoo, my good luck charm.  :D
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es Offline ThePeacent

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Re: Flying dragons
Reply #222 on: May 23, 2018, 01:38:40 PM
I have always liked these bugs,  ::) they are wonderful and fascinating "super-flies". I live in the higher altitude area of my city and they often leave the trees nearby and come to my window, something that is rare sight in the middle of the city.  :ahhh

THey reflect the light so beautifully and the wings are awesome stuff  :like:

This thread is really enjoyable Ron  ;) and you do an excellent job hunting these cute flying creatures,
as a side note, they have a very weird and hard to pronounce name in my language: Libélula (pronounced lee-bae-loo-lah :rofl:)
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nl Offline Ron Who

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Re: Flying dragons
Reply #223 on: May 23, 2018, 09:56:11 PM
as a side note, they have a very weird and hard to pronounce name in my language: Libélula (pronounced lee-bae-loo-lah :rofl:)
In Dutch it´s libel (pronounced Lee Bell), plural libellen (Lee Bell´n).

This morning it was raining, I didn´t get out until 2 PM. I stayed close to home and didn´t picture anything rare.
Maybe tomorrow. But I have good pics of the Hairy Hawker, the Green-eyed Hawker and the Blue Emperor.
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« Last Edit: May 23, 2018, 10:05:18 PM by Ron Who »


nl Offline Ron Who

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Re: Flying dragons
Reply #224 on: May 23, 2018, 11:38:16 PM
Another pic of the rare Blue Chaser. I made this one three years ago.
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us Offline SteveC

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Re: Flying dragons
Reply #225 on: May 23, 2018, 11:51:19 PM
Love this thread !

Great pics Ron  :salute:


nl Offline Ron Who

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Re: Flying dragons
Reply #226 on: May 24, 2018, 12:02:26 AM
Thanks Steve.  :cheers:

I make these pics for a Dutch spotters website. Because of that, some species have to be pictured in a specified position so it´s possible to distinguish them from close relatives. My bridge camera is ideal for this kind of work in the bush. Lightweight, no extra lenses etc.
« Last Edit: May 24, 2018, 12:12:56 AM by Ron Who »


nl Offline Ron Who

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Re: Flying dragons
Reply #227 on: May 24, 2018, 12:07:56 AM
My Dragonfly Atlas of The Netherlands contains a determination key, at the family level, of the wing patterns of dragonflies.

It occurred to me that the drawings could be done photographically/photoshoppically.
« Last Edit: May 24, 2018, 12:17:06 AM by Ron Who »


00 Offline Borg

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Re: Flying dragons
Reply #228 on: May 24, 2018, 01:02:34 AM
Lovely pictures Ron, i don't often see them anymore.
When i was a child i distinctly remember seeing lots of them but they were huge, like 9 or 10 inches long maybe bigger, you could hear them long before you saw them, a few years ago i tried to look them up online but the website said the biggest in UK was around 4 inches, so i put it down to a childs imagination and thought nothing more of it till some years later my sister mentioned she hadn't seen any of the huge Dragonflies for years..very strange, how can we both remember these huge dragons that the books tell us never existed  ???
I still keep my eye open for these large ones but no joy, to be honest even the smaller ones are rarely seen here now, plenty damsels though  :tu:
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nl Offline Ron Who

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Re: Flying dragons
Reply #229 on: May 24, 2018, 01:57:16 AM
When I was a kid, there was a small pond where we would go fishing or swimming. One day I knocked a Blue Emperor out of the sky, with a newspaper. I thought I had killed it and took it home with me. It turned out I had only knocked it unconscious and that evening in my room it came back to life. That one still is very large in my memory.

Actually the largest species of Western Europe may be 9 or 10 centimeters, not inches.


au Offline gregozedobe

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Re: Flying dragons
Reply #230 on: May 24, 2018, 04:25:51 AM
We used to see them around our garden reasonably often (every week or so), but unfortunately sightings are quite rare these days.  I think this may be due to two factors:

1   More urban development with houses, roads, shops etc displacing "wild" ponds and puddles, so less water for larvae (and their food sources) to develop in.

2   Drier climate.  We are definitely getting less rain than we used to get here compared with 30 - 37 years ago.  We have had two long-lasting droughts in our area.
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nl Offline Ron Who

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Re: Flying dragons
Reply #231 on: May 24, 2018, 10:28:24 AM
The past 50 years the number of insects decreased dramatically in Western Europe. Other causes than those you mentioned may be the use of too much fertilizer and poison in agriculture. There´s a growing awareness that we are destroying the food chain.
« Last Edit: May 24, 2018, 10:37:02 AM by Ron Who »


es Offline ThePeacent

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Re: Flying dragons
Reply #232 on: May 24, 2018, 12:15:55 PM
The past 50 years the number of insects decreased dramatically in Western Europe. Other causes than those you mentioned may be the use of too much fertilizer and poison in agriculture. There´s a growing awareness that we are destroying the food chain.

people are more conscious of the bees and their disappearance but all the insects are really going south because of our activity  :cry:
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nl Offline Ron Who

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Re: Flying dragons
Reply #233 on: May 25, 2018, 06:07:16 PM
Nothing special yesterday. Today a few Broad-bodied Chasers (male and female) and a couple (rare) Small Whitefaces.

This was the last day of my holidays. But tomorrow it´s weekend.  :D
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nl Offline Ron Who

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Re: Flying dragons
Reply #234 on: May 26, 2018, 07:42:23 PM
After a dragonfly sheds its larval skin and emerges as a flying insect, the empty skin (exuvium) may be found on a plant in or near the water.

The first photo shows the exuvium of a Blue Emperor. In the second and third photos we see a Four-spotted Chaser that couldn´t get rid of its skin. Its wings have hardened all crooked. It won´t survive to reproduce, probably it will be eaten by a bird or a frog before the day is over.
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us Offline SteveC

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Re: Flying dragons
Reply #235 on: May 26, 2018, 07:57:58 PM
 :like: :tu:


nl Offline Ron Who

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Re: Flying dragons
Reply #236 on: May 26, 2018, 11:03:37 PM
 :salute:

It´s been a good week. I spotted, and photographed, 24 different species, 6 of them rare. I´m hoping to get 2 more tomorrow but TBH it´s not likely to happen. These 2 usually appear somewhat later in the year but there have been a few sightings already. Unfortunately not where I live.

Today´s Chasers:
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« Last Edit: May 26, 2018, 11:55:53 PM by Ron Who »


nl Offline Ron Who

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Re: Flying dragons
Reply #237 on: May 27, 2018, 06:17:11 PM
Well I did get one more today. The Small Red Damsel is tiny (30mm) and has a preference for tall grasses, so it is difficult to spot, despite its bright red color.
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nl Offline Ron Who

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us Offline SteveC

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Re: Flying dragons
Reply #239 on: June 07, 2018, 05:40:39 AM
 :D :like: :tu:


 

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