Meet the Common Green Darner Dragonfly. Hope you had a nice weekend?

One of my walks here in our town takes me along the canal where water for the farmers gets carried from point to point. This is also where many insects (and other wildlife), get their water and spend time. One such insect I stopped , watched and photographed for some time is this darner or better known as the dragonfly.

This is a lengthy series of shots which shows this Common Green Darner Dragonfly laying eggs. To some the photographs look all the same however, the details of each shot are different.

The water is slowly moving, with dried grasses and in this spot only a few cattails were present.

This next couple of shots I did my best to show what was going on, as for the eggs themselves. Being laid on the dry grass.

I do watch many creatures do what they do if I am around or not. Actually I do this way to much to some peoples way of thinking. Though it is what I enjoy showing my photographs for those who want to see them.

When dealing with natural light in photography you get what you get, I like shadows the sun casts.

Several times I did have to move for my legs were going to sleep on me as I was watching for quite a while! Doing this also changed the natural lighting.

I like the fact that this Darner was a perfect specimen. No ripped wings, no damage that our eyes can see.

I did run across a study of the migration path of these dragonflies I will share the link below. I am watching Alfred Hitchcock “BIRDS”, at the moment so figured I would do today’s post about this dragonfly instead of birds ha!

I read, seen , picked up somewhere that dragonflies were as big as birds at one time. Could you imagine such a killer being as big as a bird?? Though according to that study I read their migratory habits do resemble the song birds migratory path. Rather interesting.

This species of dragonfly is common in North America.

Water skippers as well as other insects were at or in the water at this time too. Just life going by , I just happened to take the time to watch and photograph.

Here in the high desert of Oregon we have many such species during our warm summers, even spring into early fall. Transplanting cattails at our small ponds here at home has brought many to the house to help with insect populations. We seam to even have the young dragonflies here at the house who follow which ever one of us who is out in the garden making the quest for food just a little easier on the dragonflies.

This spot which is in town I think? Our town is small, one can cross the road and you are in another town! However it is not far from anyone’s home here so this to me is “in town”. When the canal water has been released into the canals of course their populations do grow quite considerably. In fact several species of dragonfly and they are all over! Literally!

If you are curious to come to the high desert of Oregon make sure you are on public land, if not get permission from the farm and/or ranch owners. They would appreciate this! Otherwise just stay on the main road….. dont cross fences etc. Plus if you ask permission you wont have a angry property owner telling you to get off his or her land. Many of these land owners it has been my experience that once they see your camera equipment and speak with you, you may even be told where some cool wildlife is hunting at, or at times they will tell you where the wildlife is living and raising young at! Cant beat that right?

Thank you for coming by and seeing my many photographs of this common green darner or just simply dragonfly!

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1686212/