Woohoo!! My first damsel fly. They're so elusive and quick and this one was no exception. I only had one other shot before this one flew off. Luckily I was focused on it fairly well but I shall keep trying. Next time I'm hoping to get the whole thing in frame :o)
I'm not sure whether those are eggs under its abdomen. Maybe someone who knows about these things can tell me.
EDIT- Thanks to Livia @myautofocuslife for identifying these as parasite eggs. So my title is more apt than I thought!
Here's another shot taken today of a snail on a blade of grass.
It's gorgeous. The damselfly is such a pretty color, too! I don't know if those are eggs but I've seen a similar shot of a damselfly with little things on its underside like that, on Flickr, and someone said they were parasitic mites.
Don't know why I didn't FAV this the first time! Fav'ed now and congrats on making PP! Didn't take time to mention this before, but [MAGNIFY] everyone! It has a "Star Wars" storm-trooper armor kind of appearance, except in blue!
@myautofocuslife Livia...it does look like those water mites. I wonder if they do fatal destruction, or just live on them and use them but don't kill them? Awww...
Lisa, I like it that you did not include the whole body...enough is there that you don't notice and it provides a more up close look. And that is so amazing about the mites on it. I hope they don't kill it. The two shades of green in this and the grass in the front and the angle you shot this...superb! Fav!
@espyetta From what I've read online, it seems that a mild infestation of these mites will only weaken the damselfly but a bad infestation would kill it. 8(
@myautofocuslife It did seem like maybe when a dog gets fleas...I thought mites were not super deadly. But those wasp eggs that get laid on hornworms and other caterpillars....the mom wasp embeds the eggs in their backs and then when they are in the pupa, the wasp babies hatch and devour the hornworm. So they are deadly!
I missed this until I saw it on the PP. I take my hat off to you - I've been trying to capture one of these for ages - I always seem to end up with the whole body in shot, well composed but blurred .... or just a part of the body in shot but in sharp focus. They just move so fast :)
This is so lovely - the wings are magical with a hint of light glinting off them .... fab, well done !!!
It's gorgeous. The damselfly is such a pretty color, too! I don't know if those are eggs but I've seen a similar shot of a damselfly with little things on its underside like that, on Flickr, and someone said they were parasitic mites.
Lisa, I like it that you did not include the whole body...enough is there that you don't notice and it provides a more up close look. And that is so amazing about the mites on it. I hope they don't kill it. The two shades of green in this and the grass in the front and the angle you shot this...superb! Fav!
This is so lovely - the wings are magical with a hint of light glinting off them .... fab, well done !!!
When I was at work last weekend I noticed one too but I was in a hurry and I didn't even had a camera with me.:(