I have been trying to have a post about every week, and so far so good. We return to “Dragontown”, and there are still more species of clubtails. This will almost finish my little tour of this large family. As always, identities are usually tentative and I would welcome being corrected.

The first picture shows one of the most common clubtails, identified as a male based on the claw-like shape of its cerci (those little appendages at the end of the abdomen). I think this is the dusky clubtail (Phanogomphus spicatus). Different species have different habits, and this one is definitely inclined to plant itself on open ground. I most often see them sitting on dusty footpaths.
Dusky clubtail dragonfly by Mark Sturtevant, on Flickr

Next is one of the species that is typically found over lakes and ponds. There is more than one possible identity for this one, but I have decided on the lilypad clubtail (Arigomphus furcifer) although an extremely similar species is the unicorn clubtail (Arigomphus villosipes). So there is a fair chance it have this one wrong. In any case, since the two species are often found together I know to look for both of them next summer.
Lilypad clubtail dragonfly by Mark Sturtevant, on Flickr

One of my favorites in this family is a common species in the Magic Field. This female is (I think) a midland clubtail (Gomphurus fraternus). They are very bold in color and also easy to photograph. Sitting with an abdomen projected into the air is called the ‘obelisk posture’ (a wonderful term!), and dragonflies do this to point their abdomen toward the sun. This reduces the surface area that is exposed to the sun so that they do not overheat. This one has a definite ‘lean’ to the posture, but around noon dragonflies may post their abdomen straight up.
Midland clubtail dragonfly by Mark Sturtevant, on Flickr
Midland clubtail dragonfly by Mark Sturtevant, on Flickr

That does it for the clubtails for now. There is one more species in this family to show, but that one is Very Special and it will be presented later. 😉

I close with a non-clubtail. I certainly have seen a lot of banded pennants (Celithemis fasciata) this past summer, which is surprising since I did not even know this species existed a year ago! This is a female.
Banded pennant dragonfly by Mark Sturtevant, on Flickr

The super shot of the Springtail has a mark/protuberance either side of the centre of body. I wondered if these were breathing ports but on reading up about it they probably aren't - here is a quote from Wikipedia

" Collembola lack a tracheal respiration system, which forces them to respire through a porous cuticle, with the notable exception of Sminthuridae which exhibit a rudimentary, although fully functional, tracheal system..."

Any ideas? Perhaps a sensory organ of some sort or just marks.

I have been trying to have a post about every week, and so far so good. We return to “Dragontown”, and there are still more species of clubtails. This will almost finish my little tour of this large family. As always, identities are usually tentative and I would welcome being corrected.

The first picture shows one of the most common clubtails, identified as a male based on the claw-like shape of its cerci (those little appendages at the end of the abdomen). I think this is the dusky clubtail (Phanogomphus spicatus). Different species have different habits, and this one is definitely inclined to plant itself on open ground. I most often see them sitting on dusty footpaths.
Dusky clubtail dragonfly by Mark Sturtevant, on Flickr

Next is one of the species that is typically found over lakes and ponds. There is more than one possible identity for this one, but I have decided on the lilypad clubtail (Arigomphus furcifer) although an extremely similar species is the unicorn clubtail (Arigomphus villosipes). So there is a fair chance it have this one wrong. In any case, since the two species are often found together I know to look for both of them next summer.
Lilypad clubtail dragonfly by Mark Sturtevant, on Flickr

One of my favorites in this family is a common species in the Magic Field. This female is (I think) a midland clubtail (Gomphurus fraternus). They are very bold in color and also easy to photograph. Sitting with an abdomen projected into the air is called the ‘obelisk posture’ (a wonderful term!), and dragonflies do this to point their abdomen toward the sun. This reduces the surface area that is exposed to the sun so that they do not overheat. This one has a definite ‘lean’ to the posture, but around noon dragonflies may post their abdomen straight up.
Midland clubtail dragonfly by Mark Sturtevant, on Flickr
Midland clubtail dragonfly by Mark Sturtevant, on Flickr

That does it for the clubtails for now. There is one more species in this family to show, but that one is Very Special and it will be presented later. 😉

I close with a non-clubtail. I certainly have seen a lot of banded pennants (Celithemis fasciata) this past summer, which is surprising since I did not even know this species existed a year ago! This is a female.
Banded pennant dragonfly by Mark Sturtevant, on Flickr

Mark, I believe the focus will be much tighter in my shots now. I found the distance of the camera flange to the sensor of my Nikon D810 to be 46.5 mm. The FINITE microscope objective requires a 170 mm total length to gather the focus onto the sensor properly. This means that I need 123.5 mm of extension from the tip of the objective to the flange of the camera. The objective is 10 mm long so the rest has to be made up with either extension tube or bellows.

Through my experiments I found the set of extension tubes was a bit too long so I removed a short section and this shot shows the result which displays a much tighter focus.

Mark, there were many vacant cells with exit holes in them. It's amazing how perfect they bore their way out. Then there were some that just looked like a clump of mud that I could tell were not developed for some reason. Those were the ones that when I cracked them open I found the stash of insects in them.

I did find one that had a dead Mud Dauber in it but it was so fragile that it fell apart when I pulled some of the dried mud away from it.

I found a lot of remains of maggot sized insects with wispy hair tails. I actually found one cell that had live specimens of these in it when I noticed something moving when I was going to set up a shot. I've posted the critter for identification so you will see a post with a front and rear view of it highly magnified.

They must have been carried in on the insect prey that the parent Mud Dauber put in the nest for its young which ended up eating everything in there.

I have always believed that actions speak louder than photographs. Particularly between Cooper's and Sharp-shinned Hawks. Perceived size can be deceptive without a known frame of reference. Sizes overlap a large sharpie may be bigger than a small Cooper's. Field guides always use terms like "tend to be" and "relatively". Cooper's tend to have more rounded tails while Sharpies tend to have square tails. Perched it is almost impossible to tell tail shape, in flight it is often not as obvious as illustrated in your favorite field guide. With these birds, when you see them in the wild, flight pattern, head relative to body, neck length, all those little things come together and you mind just says Sharpie.

I just finished a wedding consultation.

I’m very nervous about the way it went down. I’ve never had to refuse to photograph a wedding before. But I have had one that I wish I had backed out of and now my intuition is telling me to back out of this one. So far I have not signed an agreement.

The bride was very negative, she didn’t smile much and felt like some of my work was out of focus. But the groom disagreed with her and was very personable and had looked at my portfolio in depth and liked what he saw.

I’ve got a bad feeling about this one. What’s the best way to tell them that it’s not a good fit? I’ve never done that before in all my years as a wedding photographer.

Best window mount for shooting out of the vehicle: Go to the hardware or plumbing store, buy a length of foam, winter pipe insulation - the kind with the slit down the entire length ... this sells for only a couple of bucks and works better and way cheaper than a photo bean bag.

I use this handy little noodle for most wildlife and scenic shots taken from the driver's seat of my vehicle. Simply roll the window down to a comfortable shooting height, cut the thing to the length needed with a pocket knife, slip it down over the window top and shoot! Keep it in place and the window can be rolled up so as to stay nice and warm, or cool with the heater or AC on - even at highway speeds.