Here we are staring at the door of September and I have dragonfly images left from early July. Time to move them on!
Fence pickets make great perches and are at a great height for photography.
On the other side of that fence a piece of rebar attracted a Roseate Skimmer.
A slope down into a pond was covered with little flowers and and grass seed heads for perches.
Middleton Place, Charleston, SC
July 7, 2021
My backyard Grasshopper gave me a few head on looks.
Actually it is hard to tell where he might be looking with those side mounted eyes.
He didn’t seem to mind me looking back at him.
August 7 and 10, 2021
This dragonfly was determined to perch at the point of an unopened mandevilla bloom, but couldn’t seem to hold still.
He appeared to be scratching his chin, repeating this motion several times.
He did settle in, allowing me to maneuver to another view.
I believe this is a Needham’s Skimmer, female, showing off on yet another interesting perch.
This bed of Salvia was inside a box hedged garden, limiting my angle.
There was considerable wear and tear on the insect’s wings but as usual I saw no sign it inhibited her movement.
Middleton Place
July 7, 2021
I spotted this long legged insect taking a walking journey on a Texas Star Hibiscus plant.
Black and white antennae and a weirdly translucent body made him look somewhat alien.
Or at least the stuff horror movies are made of. Good thing he was tiny, and hopefully not an invasive or destructive beast.
Backyard Insect, July 5, 2021
This Grasshopper spent several weeks in a hibiscus plant on my patio, finding the plant to be nutritious as seen in my post Eating the Best Part. He did a job on the leaves, too.
When he started to turn brown it happened quickly.
The last time I saw him he hadn’t changed much more, but he did show me his other side.
I could have seen this coming, if I had known how tasty a closed hibiscus bud could be to a grasshopper.
I turned away for a few minutes after taking the photos in my post Green Grasshopper, Foreshadowing, with him on a leaf. and when my attention returned to him he had moved.
And found lunch.
The closed bud was pretty dense and he was working hard to gnaw the top off.
A piece of bamboo stuck in a plant pot has become a regular perch for dragonflies on my patio this summer.
This Great Blue Skimmer was very tolerant of me walking around him to get different flowers in the background.
He did lift off a few times, but came right back.
I didn’t know it at the time I, but this image foreshadowed the grasshopper’s intentions.
Hibiscus for lunch!
