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Gossamer Wings
Ohio’s Dragonflies & Damselflies
The Dragonfly
Today I saw the dragonfly
Come from the wells where he did lie
An inner impulse rent the veil
Of his old husk: from head to tail
Came out clear plates of sapphire mail.
He dried his wings: like gauze they grew
Thro’ crofts and pastures wet with dew
A living flash of light he flew.
Alfred Lord Tennyson (1833)
Dragonflies & Damselflies
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Order Odonata (“toothy ones”)
6000 species worldwide
470 U.S. and Canada species
165 Ohio species:
116 dragonflies, 49 damselflies
stigma
nodus
forewing
Dragonfly Anatomy
(Rusty Snaketail)
costa
compound
eyes
anal appendages
face
abdominal sections S1 – S10
thorax
hindwing
Dragonflies
vs.
Damselflies
Feature
Dragonflies (Anisoptera)
Damselflies (Zygoptera)
Eyes
Touch or almost touch
Widely separated
Body
Stocky & larger
Slender & smaller
Wing shape
Hindwings broader than
forewings
Forewings & hindwings
similar
Wing position at
rest
Wings held open at 90
degrees or facing forward
Wings held closed over
body, or at 45 degrees
Nymphs
Breathe through rectal
gills
Breathe through caudal
gills
Attracting Dragonflies to Your Garden
• Food (insects)
• Breeding Habitat
(water)
Binoculars for Observing Insects
• Desirable features include close focusing (6 feet or
less), a magnification of 7-10x, and waterproofing
• An excellent mail-order source for binoculars is
Eagle Optics in Wisconsin (www.eagleoptics.com)
Pentax Papilio
8.5x21, 10.2 oz, 1.6 feet, $136.00
Eagle Optics Rangers
10x42, 21.6 oz, 5.2 feet, $299.99
Dragonfly Field Guides & Other Books
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Curry, James R., Dragonflies of Indiana, Indiana Academy of Science, 2001.
Dubois, Bob, Damselflies of the North Woods, Kollath-Stensaas Publishing, 2005.
Dunkle, Sidney W., Dragonflies through Binoculars, Oxford University Press, 2000.
Glotzhober, Robert C. and David McShaffrey, The Dragonflies & Damselflies of
Ohio, Ohio Biological Survey, 2002.
Glotzhober, Robert C. and David McShaffrey, Common Dragonflies & Damselflies
of Ohio Field Guide, Ohio Division of Wildlife.
Lam, Ed, Damselflies of the Northeast, Biodiversity Books, 2004.
Mead, Kurt, Dragonflies of the North Woods, Kollath-Stensaas Publishing, 2003.
Mitchell, Forrest L. and James L. Lasswell, A Dazzle of Dragonflies, Texas A&M
University Press, 2005.
Nikula, Blair, Jackie Sones, Donald & Lillian Stokes, Stokes Beginners Guide to
Dragonflies & Damselflies, Little, Brown and Company, 2002.
Paulson, Dennis, Dragonflies & Damselflies of the West, Princeton University
Press, 2009.
Paulson, Dennis, Dragonflies & Damselflies of the East, Princeton University Press,
2011.
Rosche, Larry O., Judy M. Semroc and Linda K. Gilbert, Dragonflies and
Damselflies of Northeast Ohio, Cleveland Museum of Natural History, 2008.
Silsby, Jill, Dragonflies of the World, Smithsonian Institutional Press, 2001.
Elements of a Good Dragonfly
Photograph
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An interesting subject
Sharp focus & adequate depth of field
Correct exposure
Accurate color
Complementary, uncluttered background
Excellent lighting
Strong composition
Dragonfly Photography Tips
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Know your camera (operation, controls, settings)
Know your dragonflies (species, habitats)
Get close
Focus carefully, usually on the eyes
Background is critical
Consider using a ringlight or flash to obtain
consistent lighting
• Learn compositional design principles
Get Close
“Macro” setting/button
• Extension rings
• Close-up filters
• Macro lenses
Common Errors When
Composing Insect Photographs
• Insect is too small in frame
• Insect is too centered in frame (OK if
insect fills the frame)
• Insect is out of plane
• Background is too
cluttered/sharp/light/dark
• Insect is facing out of the frame
Learning More about Ohio’s
Dragonflies & Damselflies
• Ohio Odonata Society (OOS)
• Cleveland Museum of Natural History Field
Trips (Larry Rosche, Judy Semroc, Stan
Stine)
• North American Butterfly Association
(NABA) Summer Counts
• Metroparks/County Parks/Nature Center
Programs
Ohio Odonata Society
• Outgrowth of the Ohio Odonata Survey
(1990-1999)
• Holds a 1-day meeting with presentations &
field trips each summer (July 18, 2015 at
Cedar Bog, near Springfield)
• Publishes Ohio Dragonflier (PDF) quarterly
• Membership is $5 per year
• Website: http://www.marietta.edu/~odonata/
Time is for dragonflies
and angels. The former
live too little and the
latter live too long.
James Thurber
The Dragonfly
You are made of almost nothing
But of enough
To be great eyes
And diaphanous double wings;
To be ceaseless movement,
Unending hunger
Grappling Love.
Link between water and air,
Earth repels you
Light touches you only to shift into iridescence
Upon your body and wings.
Twice-born, predator,
You split into the heat
Swift beyond calculation or capture
You dart into the shadow
Which consumes you.
You rocket into the day.
But at last, when the wind flattens the grasses,
For you, the design and purpose stop.
And you fall
With the other husks of summer.
Louise Bogan (1961)