Today I took a new trail, well, actually not new to me, but new to some of you. North Chagrin Reservation in Cuyahoga County is a Cleveland Metropark that borders our community. Lots of trails, good hiking, picnic grounds, and much more make it a popular park. Today, a weekday, there were many people walking, a few running, some with children, and still others, like me, carrying cameras and looking for birds, dragonflies, and such. I was hoping to come home with a picture of a great blue heron and maybe even a green heron. Seeing the GBH wasn’t inconceivable. There is at least one that fishes regularly in the marsh. Unfortunately, today he just did a flyover, landed briefly in the top of a very tall tree, beyond the reach of my lens, and then flew out of sight.
A dragonfly can spend up to several years underwater until it is strong enough to surface, shed its skin and evolve into this beautiful creature. Then it flies free among us but only for a very brief period of up to two months before it dies (Author ~Ruth O’Neill).So no herons today, blue or green. And no barn swallows. They used to be abundant and very easy to photograph, but they must have moved to a new neighborhood. Sad, that’s what I think it is because they were such fun to photograph.
As I wandered around to see what was available for a photo opp, I ran into Roz. I mentioned her in a post two weeks ago when she was kind enough to pose for my Friday photo and again last week when she told me where I could find bobolinks. Today Roz was looking for dragons and damsels. Now I know next to nothing about dragonflies and less about damsels, so I tagged along with Roz for awhile, thinking I might learn something, and that’s how I happen to have more dragonflies than birds to share with you today. Don’t expect me to tell you what the different ones are, however, because I’m not on a first name basis with any of them. They are all just dragonflies to me. Getting sharp pictures is a challenge because they are tiny and fast moving, but I had fun trying.
Thanks for joining me along the trail today.
See you soon.
Carolyn aka Skip
PS: Thanks to my friend Roz for helping to ID most of the dragons and damsels.
PS 2: Click on any picture below to scroll through the gallery and make or read comments on individual pictures. Thanks for taking the time to look!
SEEN ALONG THE TRAIL 
Nicely done! Another beautiful collection of images, Skip. 🙂 Dragons and damsels can looking challenging because they tend to flit around a lot, but they also fly in patterns. If you watch one for a minute or two, you’ll see it tends to land in the same places over and over. They are territorial and each has his or her own little territory.
LikeLike
The territorial factor makes them even more interesting, doesn’t it? 😛
LikeLike
I really like those dragonflies!! You’ve captured some great ones!!
LikeLike
Thanks, Camille. I wasn’t sure what I was getting until I saw them on the computer. The little screen on my camera was just not clear enough!
LikeLike