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Saturday, February 21, 2009

The First Dragonflies of 2009


In order to welcome dragonflies and all the other winged
lovelies to my yard, I hung up this metal wind chime above
my potted plants yesterday. I did see a dragonfly a few
days ago but it simply zipped past and never came back!

This morning, as soon as I had watered my plants, something
in blue whizzed over my head. The something-in-blue landed
on my budding canna. What luck! I've never photographed a
blue dragonfly! And here she was posing for me! I quickly
got two shots before she decided to fly off to greener
pastures!

This afternoon I saw a flash of red on my salvia. A closer
look revealed one of the kind that I had chased all summer.
That unmistakable pattern on the wing tips!

I tiptoed to the other side and happily got these shots. I
have spent these past few days taking pictures of several
bees, wasps, birds, and butterflies. But now that the
dragonflies are here, I don't think I'll step indoors.
At least not in the daytime!!!

25 comments:

Randy Emmitt said...

Kanak,

Wonderful you are getting odes already, if you didn't know odes is short for Odonates the order of insects dragonflies are in. We'll be getting some good ones here in the yard in about 3 weeks, my place seems to be up to two weeks earlier than most places here in NC, don't know why.

Anonymous said...

What a thrill and such amazing photos Kanak. I don't blame you; if I were you I would just stay outdoors with my camera on ready!

HelenJ said...

As always, I'm amazed of your photos. Not only by the motives (they are of course fabolous), but also by the fact that you are able to shoot them! I don't think the metal wind chime is the only reason - I think the insects love you and your garden, and that is why they are posing for you! =)

RURAL said...

Amazing photos. I had no idea that dragonfly's were also in red. They are stunning.

Living in the city, we don't see them too often, when we do, they are that glorious blue.

I am looking forward to seeing more of your dragonfly photos.

Thanks for sharing.

Jen

tina said...

That blue dragonfly was posing just for you! Must be really hot there now? Still quite cool here-brrr. But I think I'll keep it for a while as I am not looking forward to watering and heat again. Seems like we just started winter! And it is over? When is your summer over?

Anonymous said...

Oh I must buy and hang a metal wind chime in my garden, too!

Unknown said...

Randy, I wasn't aware of the abbreviated form. Thanks for telling me. Good ones, you say...must be really beautiful. Worth the wait...I'd love to see them.

So true Mildred. I have a lot of catching up to do---with the dusting. It was windy today and very dusty. So you can imagine....but the winged ones keep calling me:)

Helen, after taking many photos I now know that dragonflies like to return to the same place. They zip off if I get too close but they come back to the same leaf or branch. That's a great advantage.

And thank you for your very kind comment.

Hi Jen, first of all, thank you so much for visiting. So glad to read your comment.

With the rains, there will be a riot of dragonflies and damselflies. I'll be very happy to post their photos and also tell you that I've posted. Thank you once again.

Tina, our winters are just too short. 'Officially' it isn't summer yet. Days are warm but evenings are still cool. Very soon it's going to be HOT and that'll drag on till Oct end. The heat really gets me down.

And good luck with it, Blossom. When I went to buy it I looked at many wind chimes but the moment I saw the dragonfly I knew I had to have it in the garden!

Katarina said...

What an excellent shot of the dragon lfy sitting on top of the Canna bud! Well done!
Enjoy your weekend!
Katarina

Q said...

Dear Kanak,
I so love seeing all of your winged critters! I too love the Dragonflies and the Damsels. They are so ancient...
Far from summer here..no blooms yet for butterfliues or bees...
I will enjoy yours...beautiful!
Thank you,
Sherry

Susie said...

Those are great pictures Kanak! I don't think I have ever seen a red dragonfly like that, very pretty!

Tatyana@MySecretGarden said...

What beautiful creatures! Thanks for sharing!

CanadianGardenJoy said...

Hello Kanak !
They are amazing and beautiful .. we have rather quietly pretty ones here that pop up in later summer. Yours are rather majestic ! LOL

Chandramouli S said...

Ooooooo! I never knew Dragonflies came in such vibrant colors. It's been months since I've seen even the normal ones here... Keeping my palms enjoined. Awesome photo, Kanak!

TYRA Hallsénius Lindhe said...

Wonderful Kanak, they are certainly small miracles. Love the way they turn their heads.

Great photos.

I must say (I think I've said it before) I love your Header, the photo of the valley.

Tyra xoxo

Anonymous said...

Glorious! I believe, the dragonfly has a rather short life span of 4-7 weeks? Go, make the most of it, Kanak, and feed us, too!
Shailaja

Catherine@AGardenerinProgress said...

How pretty! I've never seen dragonflies that look like the red ones you have!

Dreamybee said...

Lovely! Seems like dragonflies would be hard to photograph. They don't tend to stay still for very long and they often blend into the background. Good job capturing these shots!

Unknown said...

Thanks Katarina. Did have a great weekend...I hope yours went off well too!

Sherry, quite a few damsels are making an appearance now. Will post later. Loved reading your comment. Thank you so much!

Susie, there are two more types of the red ones--different from one another. I'm hoping to be able to photograph them this year.

Tatyana, thank you for stopping by and for leaving a comment.

Joy, hi! Thank you so much! Majestic? Wow, I'm glad you find them so!!

Chandramouli, the red ones are really something! I'm eagerly waiting for more reds. I'll let you know when I post them.

Tyra, thanks. I thought of changing my header photo but reading your comment has made me change my mind! It'll stay, at least for a while.
I hope you had a good weekend.

Hi Shailaja, I will, oh I will! Thank you for stopping by.

Hi Catherine, thank you for visiting. I'm so tempted to post last year's dragonfly photos now!

Thanks Dreamybee. Difficult yes, but butterflies are harder to photograph. At least that's what I feel. Many of the dragonflies do return to the same bloom or branch even if they fly away. It has happened with me several times
Thank you so much for visiting.

Anonymous said...

Hi Kanak, I wanted to tell you that yesterday my brother took Nalley and me on a drive around in the country. I saw a home with a huge stained glass dragonfly window. I sure wish you could have seen it!!!

Unknown said...

That must've been so beautiful Mildred. Thank you for telling me..and the drive must've been really enjoyable.

Nancy said...

The last shot of the red butterfly in the red salvia...just lovely!

Tira said...

Great shots! The red salvia looks so nice. I love red and coral flowers.

Jan said...

How thrilling for you Kanak:) You had wished for dragonflies and suddenly, the blue one that had only eluded you earlier just popped in for you to get its photo! And I have never seen a red one before. Now that's just gorgeous. I can see why you might want to stay outdoors for a while!

walk2write said...

Dragonflies are such a delight, and I can't wait to see them again. I think that red one is a beauty especially in the midst of the salvia.

Unknown said...

Nancy/Nicole/Jan /W2W,

Thanks.Ever since I started photographing them, I have developed a soft corner for the reds. They're really striking. I hope I'll get loads of them to be able to share.