Mark Cassino Photography - Mark's Blog

Goodbye, Blue Dashers. Hello, red meadowhawks…

I guess that sums things up. I only went shooting one day this week, and that was a visit to the Allegan Forest on Thursday. I spent the time in the fields off 48th Ave. The Blue Dashers are diminishing rapidly. The Dot-tailed Whitefaces are gone. And now the red meadowhawks are out in abundance. 

When I say ‘red meadowhawk,” I’m not referring to any particular species. There are Whitefaced Meadowhawks, Cherryfaced Meadowhawks, Ruby Meadowhawks, and soon Yellow Legged (a.k.a. Autumn) Meadowhawks. There were still some Blue Dashers on the wing – but the months are turning and the red dragon’s time is coming.

Last Thursday I also encountered a couple of species that I had not seen before. The most interesting was a the Eastern Ambertail. This dragonfly is very small – just over an inch in length. I found a few individuals flying and perching in a patch of Bee Balm. Both of the individuals I saw were females, but I’ll be looking for a male to round out the photographic collection.

 

The other new sighting was a little less distinctive. This was a SlatyFour Spotted Skimmer, which strikes me as one of the plainest dragonflies I’ve ever seen. At first I thought it was a female whitetail or twelve spotted skimmer that I have gotten covered in mud. But the more I looked the more I realized it was something different, so I managed to get one shot of it at the edge of the temporary marsh. It seemed to be quite alone – I only saw this one individual – but there must be others around.

We’ve gone a few weeks in west Michigan without major rains, and the temporary marsh is beginning to recede a bit. However, it is still much higher now, in late July, than it often is in May or even April. Places that I walked though a few years ago, without even getting my feet wet, are still submerged. There’s been a great explosion of amphibians in the marsh, and on this trip I saw lots of green frogs and Fowler’s Toads along the water’s edge.

Two photos of hay bales in a summer field. Both taken on Kodak HIE infrared film, developed in Rodinal 1:25:

It’s been a wet summer, and the fields in west Michigan are green and verdant. Places that were dry grass two summers ago are completely submerged this year, and the populations of frogs and toads seem to be booming. Standing near the marsh now, I hear the “pliiiingggg” of bull frogs and the occasional chirps of other species. Wandering through the savannah, looking for dragonflies, I’ve stumbled into a few gray tree frogs and maybe even a couple of cricket frogs.

The Dot-tailed Whitefaced Dragonflies are gone. I found a photo of one on the memory card when I dumped this weeks work, but realized it was a hold over from July 3. I believe that was the last time I saw one, and probably marks the end of their presence this year.

The blue dashers remain out in force. They remind me of the Great Spangled Fritillaries a few years ago – they were just insanely abundant for one summer, after which their populations dropped back down to normal.

As the summer matures, the red dragonflies are coming out in numbers as well. So far I’ve seen only Whitefaced Meadowhaks. The distinctive white face on the fire engine red males make these an easy species to identify. But hopefully some ruby and cherry faced meadowhawks will be along soon. 

The butterfly weed is also in bloom and with the were Edwards Hairstreaks, Coral hairstreaks, and even a few Karner Blues.

More photos: 

Where to go on a hot July afternoon? Find a shady spot, of course. That was my logic last Thursday, when I found myself back in a clearing in the Allegan Forest - off of a barricaded two track, off of some seasonal road, off of 122nd avenue, off of M89. It was a place I’ve never been to before – I need to find more spots like that.

You wouldn’t expect that I’d get tired of shooting dragonflies – it seems to take longer every season, but this week I finally lost the dragonfly vibe. Though the fields were teeming with blue dashers and more than a few skimmers of various sorts, I left the digital camera and the macro rig behind. I wandered back into the clearing with a trusty Pentax LX loaded with Rollei IR 400 film, a couple of zoom lenses, and an R72 filter.

I shot two rolls of the Rollei film – 72 frames, but with bracketing only about 20 different compositions. Digital has really spoiled me – I feel like I’ve wasted an afternoon if I don’t take 200 shots. That is one of the great perils of digital photography - you become your own army of monkeys, pounding at the shutter button. Accidental successes seem to be triumphs, but it’s hard to figure out how you got there and recreate the work. Not to mention that accidnets have no concept behind them.

Well - back to the fields and forest. I found a pearl in the sandy soil, often the case there.

This was my third session with the Rollei film. It was shot with the R72 filter, metered though the lens with the ISO set at 200 (thanks, Ray!) Film was developed in HC110, Dil H (1:66) at 20C for 24 minutes, with very low agitation (gentle agitation every 3 minutes for the first 12, then every 60 seconds.) I like it, but I don’t see it as a replacement for HEI. It’s much too slow with the R72 filter, and I really like using a plain red filter and being able to check and tweak the composition as I’m hitting the shutter button.

Rollei IR 400, with an R72 filter, is also a pretty high contrast film. Despite my attempt at using HC110 as a compensating developer, the film is a tough beast to tame with shadow areas virtually clear on the negative. But, when it comes to B&W shots, contrast is your friend. Not a friend I’ve really come to terms with, but working with this film has been a big boost in helping me understand and work with higher contrast mono shots.

The whitetail deer saw me long before I saw her. She bolted across the intermittent marsh, splashing water up over her head as she ran off.

I’ve encountered a deer on each of the last four visits to the vernal marsh off 48th avenue in the Allegan Forest. Maybe it is the same one, maybe not. But it is usually near the edge of the marsh and usually storms across it, making quite a commotion.

Sorry, no pictures of the deer. My slack and sleeping senses have been too dull to capture the deer in flight. I have been sincerely surprised each time this event happens, until I realize that it’s just like a few days ago.

Anyhow, I go to this place to take pictures of insects… particularly dragonflies. In that respect, it did not disappoint over the last week.

The Dot Tailed Whitefaces are still out in force. I am amazed that I had not seen this species before, but looking over my older images they don’t come up. Although tye are smaller than many of the dragonfly species prevalent now, these plain black insects are still around.

Red Meadowhawks are back and growing in numbers. They will rule the next few months. I used to say that when the red dragons appear, fall is in the air – but these last few years have shown me htat they can come out in early summer. I expect that they will stay around for a while.

Otherwise, the blue darners, twelve spotted skimmers, window skimmers, and spangled skimmers are still abundant. And, of course, the blue dashers are still ruling the roost, and in several of the field sI visited were the most prominent dragonfly.

The sandy fields in the Allegan Forest are surprisingly verdant and green – thanks to the crazy weather we’ve been having (which includes a lot of heavy storms.) Walking back to the car after shooting near the intermittent marsh, I startled a young doe that was bedded down and hiding in the tall green grass and vetch. It was quite a sight to see this little deer – no larger than a terrier – scramble off to the wood line.

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