A male Southern Hawker dragonfly, Aeshna cyanea

[spiralsheep]

I capped a male Southern Hawker dragonfly, Aeshna cyanea, who was doing a surprisingly good job of blending into the dying and drying late summer vegetation (when he wasn't pretending to be made of liquorice allsorts like the Kandyman. /Doctor Who). I also capped him crapping, heh, but haven't posted that image. ;-)

Comments

[weaverbird]

Oooh, he's gorgeous! And those gossamer wings are simply fascinating. Great captures.

[spiralsheep]

Thank you! Dragonflies are endlessly fascinating to me. They look fragile but, like so many insects, they're tough bruisers.

[untonuggan]

I LOVE how the wings came out. Wow!

[spiralsheep]

Thank you! I love that each cap shows them in a different light (LITERALLY!!1!!). :-)

[redbird]

Those are very good photos. Thanks for posting them.

[spiralsheep]

Thank you, and you're welcome.

[el1ie]

Gorgeous photos, so pleased you posted them so I can have a close up look at those wings. Thanks.

[spiralsheep]

Thank you, and you're welcome. Their wings are amazing and surprisingly tough.

[el1ie]

Oh yes, and the whirling, clacking noise they make as they dive at you at speed! That's why it's nice to see photos like this, usually I'm ducking for cover when I spot one on the wing! :))

[spiralsheep]

Ahahahaha! I don't recall ever being "lucky" enough to attract that sort of attention from a dragonfly! The southern hawker males are supposed to have enough curiosity to check people out occasionally though. It's one of their identifying behavioural characteristics. :-)

[clare_dragonfly]

Wow! Gorgeous!

[spiralsheep]

Thank you!

[foxfirefey]

Oh, I love the eyes!

[spiralsheep]

Compound eyes! It must be odd looking through them when they have water droplets sprinkled on them though.

[solitarywalker]

Pretty. i like dragonflies but they usually don't let me get close enough for pictures.

[spiralsheep]

Thank you. I just encountered a couple of unusually confident male Southern Hawker dragonflies on a hot sunny day when they wanted to bask more than fly. I was very lucky!