Dragonfly in Flight

A male Blue-eyed Darner in flight over the waters of Long Lake in Nanaimo, Vancouver Island, B.C..

Dragonfly in Flight

A male Blue-eyed Darner in flight over the waters of Rice Lake, Lynn Valley, North Vancouver, B.C..

Warm summer days bring to mind one of my favourite insects; dragonflies! The first image is of a male Blue-eyed Darner in flight on a sunny morning over the lake waters of Long Lake, Nanaimo, Vancouver Island, B.C..  The second dragonfly image is also of a male Blue-eyed Darner in flight that I photographed at Rice Lake in Lynn Valley, North Vancouver, B.C. As is often seen with birds the male of the species is more colourful than the female. Male Blue-eyed Darners have big blue eyes, a bright blue face and blue markings on their torsos. Female Darners are also beautiful but their colouring is less striking being primarily brown with green markings.

Dragonflies in flight are always a challenge to photograph. The trick is to wait for one to hover like a helicopter! Both images were photographed with a Nikon D7100 at a focal length of 300 mm. The first image with an aperture of F4, shutter speed 1/1600 and an ISO of 400, and the second image at an aperture of F4, shutter speed 1/400 and an ISO of 1600.


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