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Migrant Hawker
All dragonfly species have excellent vision. Each compound eye is comprised of several thousand elements known as facets or ommatidia. These ommatidia contain light sensitive opsin proteins, thereby functioning as the visual sensing element in the compound eye. But unlike humans, day-flying dragonfly species have four or five different opsins, allowing them to see colours that are beyond human visual capabilities, such as ultraviolet (UV) light. Together, these thousands of ommatidia produce a mosaic of “pictures” but how this visual mosaic is integrated in the insect brain is still not known.
The Migrant Hawker is one of the smaller species of hawker dragonflies. It can be found away from water but for breeding it prefers still or slow-flowing water and can tolerate brackish sites. The flight period is from July to the end of October. "A. mixta" occurs in North Africa, southern and central Europe to the Baltic region.
comments (9)
I dont use a tripod, when taking shots of fast moving insects it is near enough impossible to use a tripod. You learn to move quite ninja like, not disturbing direct sunlight (if on the subject) as many insects seem to have a built in reflex. If a darkness falls over them they fly away quickly. You tend to find if you dont disturb them they carry on with their normal day to day lives as if you are not there. Dont get me wrong, I dont always get the shots I want, but im getting better each time I go out. You get to learn what specific insects will tolerate (noise, disruption wise). Have i mentioned patients :) Posted 11 years ago