It was a good day

frons

The weather finally cooperated on a Saturday and I made my way to my favorite water hole before dawn. There was a light dew, though not as heavy as I had hoped, and the temps were not that low.

I saw at least 14 different dragonfly species and was able to photograph most of them. Here are a few shots, most made with D200 and Nikkor 200/f4 micro on tripod.
[I don't have an image hosting account yet, so apologies for the resized jpgs.]
#1 Libellula flavida, female

frons

#2 Libellula semifasciata, male

frons

I saw probably a half dozen A. junius emerging in one of the small pools. Here are two within a foot of each other. Shot with mf Tamron 80-200/2.8 @80 for a wider view.
#3 Two Anax junius, recently emerged

frons

This one didn't make it. :cry
#4 spider devouring an unfortunate specimen during emergence

frons

Or this one either...
#5 Anax junius, unsuccessful emergence

Lord Vetinari

Lovely series of shots- not seen a shot of a spider attack on an emerging DF before .

Brian V.

frons

Thanks, Brian. I generally find that the more hours I spend outside, the more likely I am to see something I've never seen before. I've seen dragon/damselflies in webs, but I think this was a first for me, too.

Skippy

Frons, this a great series you've shown us
I love the last three shots, of the newly emerging DF's,
and that one of the Spider taking advantage of the new hatchlings is quite a capture.

Well Done, and how lucky were you to be there at the right time hey! :ivar

Great shots, and thank you for sharing ..... Skippy
.

mehampson

Great shots. I really like the spider in action. Did you see whether it was waiting in place for the dragonfly, or just got lucky?

frons

Thanks for all your kind words, and glad I could share some interesting shots.

As for the spider, I was scanning the area and just happened to notice dragonfly wings mostly vertical, and I hoped it might be something other than the ubiquitous A. junius. As I got closer, I could tell something was amiss. I didn't see the attack, just got lucky that I could photograph a bit of the action.

GOLDENORFE

good series, i have seen european raft spiders with dragons and damselflys but not very often.your spider looks similar in appearance
phil
http://www.flickr.com/photos/goldenorfe/