Handy Dragonfly
Reader mARK bLOORE sends in this picture of a dragonfly at rest on his hand. I find this fascinating. I know how to coax damselflies onto a finger, but how do you trick a dragonfly into landing on your hand? Same way only bigger, I guess.
This dragonfly looks particularly sinister. If the insect world had black helicopters, this little guy would be it, no?
Perhaps that’s why it landed on mARK’s hand: it was trying to decide whether or not to eat him.
Slowly getting the site back onto an even keel. It's nice to get back into the old posting rhythm.
tceisele said,
December 20, 2007 @ 9:07 am
You know what really impresses me about mARK bLOORE’s pictures? That he can hold the camera steady enough to get such beautiful clear macro shots WITH ONE HAND! He must have the steadiest hands in the world.
b13 said,
December 20, 2007 @ 10:54 pm
how do you “coax damselflies onto a finger”?
David Brady said,
December 20, 2007 @ 11:39 pm
b13: By holding your finger vertically near it and moving slowly into its space. Damselflies exhibit a sort of “hover/scan” behavior where they will sweep back and forth across a surface. What they’re doing is looking for a stick to land on. Hold up a finger and think, um, sticky thoughts.
Check it out: http://www.insectpod.com/2007/09/01/narrow-winged-damselfly/
linusrp said,
December 21, 2007 @ 2:58 am
Or you could get them (and dragonflies) to crawl unto your hand from a leaf etc. Work best though if the weather is cool and/or rainy. Worked twice for me anyway (unfortunately I have no pictures of it)