Category: Insects

Who Is The Prey Here?

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I spend a lot of time watching and photographing insects engaged in a variety of activities, usually pollenating flowers. Spend enough time out on the trails, observing and taking photographs, and you start to notice the ambush predators. The ones that sit motionless, hidden in the blossoms, their camouflage blending almost perfectly with their surroundings. The Praying Mantis is one such predator, seamlessly blending in with the numerous branches and stems, they wait for something to come close enough to grasp with their powerful forelimbs.

I came across this scene out on the Miller Woods trail in the Indiana Dunes National Park. I must have just missed the moment when the Mantis caught the Moth which was still struggling.

By the time I got my camera setup and started taking photographs it had already taken its first bite.
As I watched and photographed, the Mantis took a couple more bites out of the Moth which was barely struggling at this point.
In it goes in for another bite.
This is the moment when it spotted me!
From this moment on the Mantis locked eyes with me and for the next 5 minutes or so it followed my every move.
Even as I moved around, repositioning my camera and taking photos from different angles and distances, its eyes never left mine.
For one brief moment it looked back down at its prey…
… then it looked back at me. I could easily imagine that the Mantis was contemplating which would make for the more satisfying meal, the Moth in its grip or Me.
In the end the Mantis decided to stick with the Moth and moved off deeper into the foliage in order to eat in peace.

Now of course the Mantis was likely not considering killing and eating me. But they are predators, and through their eyes pretty much everything is either prey or a threat. What really made an impression on me was the degree of visual acuity which the Mantis showed. Its eyes were absolutely locked in on me, tracking my every movement no matter how slight. It was intensely focused on me, and only me.

I’ve been down on the ground at eye level with snakes, just a couple feet away taking similar photographs as they watch me. Sometimes they appear to be looking into your eyes too, but they are so motionless that it feels more like they think you won’t see them as long as they don’t move. The moment you make any movement at all, off they go. The stare of the Mantis however, that was a bit creepy. Almost like it really was trying to decide if I was prey, or not!

Damsels & Dragons

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When you spend a lot of time hiking around marshes and swamps you are going to see a lot of Damselflies and Dragonflies. They are a lot of fun to watch, the way they hover and dart to and fro. It is amazing how quickly they can change direction. They look prehistoric and indeed they date back to the Jurassic period. While they might look scary, they are harmless to people and spend most of their time eating other more bothersome insects like mosquitos.

They are a lot of fun to photograph as well. Despite how frenetic they can be in flight, they often hover in place for short periods. They also land on leaves and sticks, remaining incredibly still long enough to photograph. They can see almost 360 degrees and are very difficult to get close to as any approach tends to spook them. However with a good telephoto lens you can get some really nice shots of them. The secret is to just stop and wait quietly when you come across them. If you stay very still they will go about their business and eventually land nearby.

This post contains a selection of the different Damselflies and Dragonflies which I have photographed over the last few years. I cannot really identify different types, but I choose photographs of subjects bearing different colors and patterns just to showcase the variety. Most were taken at the Indiana Dunes park in NW Indiana. A few were from my neighborhood in Chicago near Lake Michigan.

Damselflies are smaller and more slender than Dragonflies. The easiest way to tell the difference however is to note that Damselflies, like those pictured here, fold their wings back along their bodies when at rest.
Dragonflies by contrast rest with their wings extended. Notice the variety in the markings on their wings.
Their faces are fascinating. The eyes are huge, like wrap around goggles. Their mouths are almost always closed, but if you watch them carefully you will see them occasionally open up wide, and it looks like the entire top of the head hinges back.
Mating pairs are always fun to watch. The male clasps the female just behind the head and they fly together in perfect tandem.
See all those black spots in the sky? Those are Dragonflies at sunset. This photograph was taken out at Promontory Point, along the shore of Lake Michigan one year when they were really intense.
Dragonflies love to perch like this, grasping the top of a leaf or reed, calmly surveying their domain.
This is typical Damselfly posture when at rest.
Reds, Blues, Blacks, Yellows and Greens. Petty much the whole spectrum of colors can be found.
And, well just a bunch more to round out the show.