Common Blue Damselfy - female side view, Heeswijk, Netherlands

Tricky to identify as females of blue damsels are highly variable. I had some help from an expert noting the broad shoulder stripe and near blank chest piece as keys. There was also a behavioral sign: this one was scooting over water easily, which apparently isn't done by the Azure damselfly. In dutch for this reason we call this one the "snuffle damselfly", meaning it "sniffs" the water, so to speak.

A fact about this species that blew my mind: larvae sometimes overwinter twice.

On this photo you can see the chest piece where in the second seam, there's no black stripe, whilst most blue damsels do have a stripe there. This poster (in dutch) visualizes the difference:
https://assets.vlinderstichting.nl/docs/b80fe318-b9b8-41ee-acba-c7cebd27c2fb.pdf

The top view shows the torpedo-like black stripes which are typical for the female of this species:

Front view:

comments (7)

Claire Hamilton

Lion

Excellent shot Ferdy, all in focus, even those little hairs. Interesting about the larvae too. Posted 7 years ago
1. Ferdy Christant
  
  Lion
  
  Thank you, Claire :)
  If you zoom in very close, you can see a problem I face quite often when doing macro on damselflies from a side view: the eye is not in focus. This is due to it sticking out quite a lot compared to the body, and its quite hard to visually confirm focus when its taken from a bit more distance. Only when getting really close (see front view) am I able to get the eyes sharp. Posted 7 years ago
2. 1. Claire Hamilton
    
    Lion
    
    Ah yes, I see what you mean. The only way around that is by stacking. Something I would love to get into one day. Nightmare isn't it! Still a great photo. Posted 7 years ago
  2. 1. Ferdy Christant
      
      Lion
      
      Thank you. Another solution is to not zoom so far into detail people will never even notice, but I can't help myself.
      
      My new D850 has an auto stacking mode that is awesome. Of course, you still need a steady subject and preferably a tripod, which would not work in this case. How it works: on the LCD you manually focus on the part of the subject closest to you, this is even indicated with a red outline in 3D...live! Then you configure the amount of steps (shots) to take. Press start and the machine gun rattles, no focus rail needed or anything. You then still have to stack the shots in software yourself, but the capturing part is automated. Posted 7 years ago, modified 7 years ago
    2. 1. Claire Hamilton
        
        Lion
        
        Wow, that's awesome! Posted 7 years ago

RMFelix

Lion

Pity those last abdominal segments that covered by the green leaf. It does apear to be Enallagma cyathigerum. I believe that the focus problem is caused by a non-perpendicular approach to the subject, the edge of the wing in focus, and @ 105mm macro focal distance to a subject this size is quite a risk to miss details. Is this a full frame non cropped photograph? Posted 7 years ago
1. Ferdy Christant
  
  Lion
  
  This one is cropped by quite a bit. Had to take this distance because it was skittish. Posted 7 years ago