Tag Archives: Insect

Ebony Jewelwing Damselfly And Prey

An Ebony Jewelwing Damselfly perched on a leaf with a potential Mayfly snack on the underside.

Ebony Jewelwing Damselfly
Ebony Jewelwing Damselfly

A few minutes before I had watched another one of these damselflies chase a Mayfly. They both exhibited serious flying skills and that time the Mayfly prevailed. Here, I wondered if the damselfly knew the Mayfly was there.

Ebony Jewelwing Damselfly
Ebony Jewelwing Damselfly

Francis Beidler Forest, SC
April 7, 2023

Ebony Jewelwing Damselfly, Open And Shut

If you wait long enough an Ebony Jewelwing Damselfly will open and close its wings.

Ebony Jewelwing Damselfly
Ebony Jewelwing Damselfly

Their outsized heads tend to make nice shadows in the right light.

Ebony Jewelwing Damselfly
Ebony Jewelwing Damselfly

Wings closed is their most common position when I have seen them.

Ebony Jewelwing Damselfly
Ebony Jewelwing Damselfly

They do chose some interesting leaves to land on, including this poison ivy.

Ebony Jewelwing Damselfly
Ebony Jewelwing Damselfly

Francis Beidler Forest, SC
March 31, 2023

Dragonfly, Perched on a Vine

Two years ago fellow blogger and dragonfly enthusiast Mike Powell (https://michaelqpowell.com/) identified a similar sighting of mine as “probably a juvenile female Great Blue Skimmer.”

Dragonfly
Dragonfly

I’m not much further along identifying dragonflies than I was then, especially females and juveniles.

Dragonfly
Dragonfly

I do like to photograph them even if I don’t know what they are, and liked the three different background options this one gave me.

Dragonfly
Dragonfly

Magnolia Plantation & Gardens, Charleston, SC
March 30, 2023

Juvenile Blue Corporal Dragonfly

We’ve had some nights below freezing recently, and the day I took these didn’t get much above the mid 50s (10 C)  so I was surprised to see any dragonfly.

I spent some time with my “Dragonflies and Damselflies of the East” book and searching online. I did not even come up with Blue Corporal as a possibility.

Blue Corporal
Blue Corporal

The ID was provided by Odonata of the Eastern United States Facebook group, with one very confident ID as a Juvenile male Blue Corporal Dragonfly, with several  assents.

Blue Corporal
Blue Corporal

Audubon Center at Beidler Forest, Harleyville, SC
March 19, 2023

First Damselfly Images Of The Year

I had actually seen a pair of damselflies a week or so ago but couldn’t get any usable images.

Damselfly
Damselfly

I saw two of these at the edge of a small pond that was mostly in the shade except for a few blades of a reed where one stopped to eat his prey.

Damselfly With Fly
Damselfly With Fly

I don’t know the ID, they were quite small, maybe an inch or inch and a half ( 2.5 – 4 cm).

Damselfly With Fly
Damselfly With Fly

Magnolia Plantation & Gardens, Charleston, SC
February 23, 2023

Butterflies on Honeysuckle

As the morning warmed up I could smell the honeysuckle as I walked along the dike and pretty soon several butterflies appeared.

This Gulf Fritillary was a very bold orange, and in pristine shape like he had just hatched.

Gulf Fritillary on Honeysuckle
Gulf Fritillary on Honeysuckle

Several Skippers were intent on feeding from the underside of the leaves, this one popped out for just a moment.

Long-tailed Skipper on Honeysuckle
Long-tailed Skipper on Honeysuckle

This last butterfly looks like a Sulpher Butterfly, but was much smaller, about this size of a dime (Diameter 0.750 in. ~ 19.05 mm) . Research turns up it is likely a Little Yellow.

Little Yellow butterfly on Honeysuckle
Little Yellow butterfly on Honeysuckle

Donnelley Wildlife Management Area, SC
November 26, 2022