Birds Eyes And Butterflies

The picture of this Halloween Pennant Dragonfly was taken at Ward Pound Ridge Reservation in Westchester, NY.The Halloween Penannant forages from atop tall grasses, weeds and stems in open fields some distance from the water. It perches uniquely, with the forewings and hindwings in different planes. The forewings are held somewhat vertically and the hindwings horizontally.
I took this picture with my CANON EOS20D and the CANON 100mm f2.8 MACRO lens. I am finding this combination very rewarding for macro pictures.

The picture of these Ebony Jewel Damselflies in wheel position was taken at Ward Pound Ridge Reservation in Westchester, NY. I used the CANON EOS 7D with the CANON 100mm – 400 mm lens to make this capture.
This picture shows the dragonsflies mating. When drgaonflies mate, the male flies above her and lands on her back, bends his abdomen far forward and deposits sperm on the underside of his second abdominal segment, which is the site of his penis. Then, grasping the female behind the head with a pair of forceps-like structures at the end of his abdomen, he flies off with her in tandem. When she is ready to mate, she curls her abdomen down and forward to place its end under the male’s second abdominal segment, which has structures to hold it in place while the sperm are transferred to her reproductive tract.

Attended a really good macro workshop Saturday August 1 given by Lloyd Spitalnik and Sandy Spitalnik at Ward Pound Ridge on macro photography and shooting insects.
Here are some of the pictures.

The picture of this Widow Skimmer Dragonfly male was taken at a pond near New Paltz, NY July 26, 2009. The main difference between the male and female is the coloring of the abdominal segments which are the ten sections from the rear going forward towards the head.