Less Frequently Photographed

The appearance of colorful butterflies, birds, and flowers often brings out the camera, but many less visible or less colorful living park features do not get similar attention. During my walks in Eliza Howell Park in the second week of August this year, I have been making an effort to get pictures of some less frequently photographed insects and spiders.

A large number of dragonflies are now flying in the park. It is difficult to get a good image of one since they seem always to be on the move, rarely resting long enough for me to get a picture, but I am beginning to get a few.

There are, I think, over 300 different species of dragonflies in the United States and Canada and I am not (yet) prepared to attempt species identification of most of those I am seeing. For now, it is enough to see some of the variety and to have a few pictures with enough clarity that some body features can be noted and appreciated. Dragonflies are predators, eating other insects.

Every year in late summer, I see webs that cover the tips of some tree branches. These “tents” are the home of the larvae (caterpillars) of a moth called Fall Webworm. I hardly ever see the white adult moth, but the tents where the larvae feed on leaves are easy to find. Though the trees lose some leaves, the webworms do not appear to do any long-term damage to the trees.

Since the larvae can usually only be seen within the webs, it is difficult to get a good picture of them. I have not yet done so.

Grasshoppers are also in abundance in EHP now, especially easy to find along the walking path within the road loop. They are usually seen “hopping” away from where one is walking, not waiting to have their picture taken. I have a little more success finding them at rest in foliage. Grasshoppers are herbivores, feeding mainly on leaves.

The over 600 species are often in shades of brown and/or green. I am just beginning to get a sense of the variety within the park.

Similar to the case of dragonflies, pictures can help me gain appreciation for some grasshopper features by allowing for close-up looks without catching them.

August is the beginning of spider web season. Last year — September 20, 2018 — I wrote about the Banded Garden Spider (Banded Argiope) and its orb web. I have now found another orbweaver, the closely related Black and Yellow Garden Spider. It has been present in the same location for days, waiting for insects to get caught in its intricate web largely hidden in the wildflowers.

Large and colorful spiders like this are photogenic, but they are not frequently photographed simply because they are not frequently found.

I confess that I have also been taking many pictures recently of butterflies and flowers, both of which have been plentiful and brilliant this month so far. But I do not want to neglect those “critters” that I know less well and photograph less frequently. There is so much to observe, to learn, and to admire.

A Damselfly in Sunshine: Ebony Jewelwing

On some of these days in Eliza Howell Park, I can be tempted to avoid going to the river woodland because of the active mosquitoes. This is also the season of the Ebony Jewelwing, however, and the presence of this damselfly has lately been providing me with all the incentive I need to go to the near-river habitat, despite the mosquitoes.

Damselflies are characterized by very large eyes (in proportion to the head) and a long thin abdomen. Ebony Jewelwing is a quite large damselfly, about 2 inches in length, and is the most common damselfly in EHP, based on my observations.

The size of the eyes always gets my attention.

The adults that I watch are found fairly close to the river (though sometimes up to 100 yards away). The early stage of life is aquatic. They lay eggs on plant debris in slow-moving water and, after the eggs hatch, the young (known as naiads) spend the first part of their development in the water.

The adults often seek out leaves in one of the few sunny spots found in this habitat, and here I watch. The males and females are distinctively different. The male, pictured above, has dark wings with an iridescent green body. The most distinctive feature of the female is the white spot near the end of the each wing.

Damselflies are carnivores, both in the larval stage in the water and in the adult flying stage. I watched this female eating another insect.

A beginning bug watcher quickly learns the difference between damselflies and dragonflies, their near relatives. Both have 2 sets of wings and a long body. It is easiest to tell the difference when the insect is at rest. Dragonflies hold their wings out perpendicular to their bodies while damselflies hold their wings together across their backs.

Here is a resting dragonfly. They have even larger eyes.

Dragonflies used to get more of my attention than damselflies. But that was before I came to know that Ebony Jewelwings are often resting (ready to be observed) in sunny spots close to the river near the end of June.