ODONATE: large predacious winged insects of the order Odonata, including dragonflies and damselflies which are characterized by long brightly colored bodies, two pairs of membranous wings, and large compound eyes.

PURPOSE:
This image gallery has been created to assist visitors with dragonfly identification, specifically for dragonflies in Douglas County, Oregon.  These dragonflies are also found in many other parts of the U.S., and therefore should help in the identification of dragonflies outside this area, as well.  Please note that I have not yet captured images of all dragonflies in this area, but rest assured, as I take images of additional dragonfly species, they will be quickly added to the gallery.

PHOTOGRAPHIC LOCATION:
All odonata images, except "Aeshna Interrupta - Variable Darner", were taken in Northern Douglas County, around Elkton, Oregon.  The "Aeshna Interrupta - Variable Darner" image was taken in Coos County, Sumner, Oregon.

DATES:
The date each photograph was taken appears under each thumbnail.

CAMERA SETTINGS:
Camera settings for each image are provided on the enlargement page for that image. To view an enlargement, click the thumbnail image you wish to see enlarged.

Me and Dragonflies:
Most Dragonflies are beautifully colored and marked, but even the less colorful varieties are magnificent in their own right.  You don't necessarily need to be around a body of water to have Dragonflies visit you.  We have no bodies of water on our property.  There is a seasonal creek that runs through our neighbor's property (about 150 - 200 yards away), but from June until the rains return in October, the creek is dry.

Since Dragonflies appear to like perches to display on and to lurk from for passing bugs, I set up numerous dead branches in the sunny spots around the yard, especially around the wild blackberries - where they also like to perch on last years dead runners; I assume that's because of all the bugs blackberries seem to attract.

If you decide you want to take pictures of Dragonflies, the main thing to remember is that when you approach them, do so very slowly. And have your camera turned on to the proper modes/settings you plan to shoot with before you even start your approach.  As soon as I spot a Dragonfly, I turn on the camera and set it to full zoom - in the case of the Fuji S5200, that's 10X - and I turn on the Macro Mode as well as check to see that the camera is set to aperture mode (f/8).  I then slowly maneuver to within 6 to 8 feet of the subject.  After taking 1 or 2 images, I take another slow step forward and take another few images.  I keep repeating the step-and-shoot process until I'm within the near range limit of the lens, about 30 inches - by then, I can usually move fairly freely around the Dragonfly without spooking it, though I have noticed they watch me intently.  (The other day I was taking images of a Blue Dasher that had gotten quite comfortable with my presence.  After taking 8 - 10 images, I thought I'd add a 2x diopter.  The Dragonfly obliged my fumbling then allowed me to get images from within the 18 inch focal range.  Since then, I've also successfully approached to within the 4x diopter range of about 8 inches.) On occasion, some dragonflies have even let me touch them.  And it may sound odd, but I've had the best luck approaching dragonflies when I'm wearing a white shirt (and with having silvery white hair and beard, I've wondered if I might just look to them like a harmless shiney white cloud, approaching).

I've also found that Dragonfly bodies are highly reflective.  As a result, I now take most of my images at f/8 (the smallest aperture the S5200 has), both to eliminate some of the brightness and get better depth of field, but I always try to follow up with a few programmed auto shots.  I've tried a little experimenting with polarizers but don't really like the effect . . . or maybe I'm not using the filter correctly.  When I can afford it, I plan to experiment with neutral density filters.  I'm also experimenting with flash, even in full sunlight; on occasion, it seems to bring out the colors and feature definition better.


Lastly, I'd like to give special thanks to Dr. Dennis Paulson, Director Emeritus of The Slater Museum of Natural History at the University of Puget Sound and Steve Valley of the Oregon Dragonfly And Damselfly Survey for their assistance in identifying the various dragonflies presented below.

Note the eyes on these younger males.  It’s the younger male Pachydiplax which have eyes that are brick red in the upper areas.  When mature they become greenish blue—most evident in bright sunlight.  They also become quite pruinose, especially on the abdomen, and they end up looking very similar to male Erythemis collocata (Western Pondhawk).