Jericho, Underhill, VT Life Search - Insect Observation Journal - Models Wanted

Models Wanted: Must be willing to sit still for a minimum of three seconds.

   

   Dragonflies and Damselflies are back! I adore these creatures. First for their beauty, design, and superpower capabilities and secondly for their acrobatic jet fighter flying. I can watch them for an hour entranced - and do so. Who gets the most pleasure the dragonfly or me? The dragonflies have me trained. 

   They are like a laser pointer dot of light that they control, and I am like the cat chasing the dot (the dragonfly) and like a cat, can run into things if I don’t pay close enough attention to my surroundings. I just imagine when two dragonflies get together one of them says, "Hey watch this, I can make that human turn into a bobblehead. Sometimes I can even get him to crash into things." Hands down, as much fun as I have in watching them, they are having way more fun watching me while they leave jet streams across the sky. 

   Occasionally they will land. I like to think they feel sorry for me trying in vain to get a photo of them flying. More often than not, when they land they are chewing on an insect. They don’t seem to mind me coming to dinner as long as I stick to taking photos and bringing my own lunch. Of all the insects I observe, the dragonflies,  if and when they do land near me, are one ideal model. They are generally large insects, have beautiful large eyes, and offer various facial expressions, they contort their bodies, toss bits and pieces of an insect as they chew on them, and SIT relatively STILL for relatively LONG PERIODS OF TIME (a minute or more). 

   Whereas as in the case of today's viewing, after observing a dragonfly so long that my neck was sore, I ventured upon a butterfly flying in a similar erratic yet localized area of about fifty feet in circumference.  

   As I often do I asked it to land for me, ideally where I could see it. It would fly behind me, I would turn to lose it, then I would turn around only to find it passing in front of me again on and on for three or four minutes. 

   Then it landed. On a leaf. Just out of camera range but close. And then about one-hundredth of a second later, it took off, returning to its laser pointer dot of light - whoa wait a minute only Dragonflies know how to turn me into a bobblehead - until now.

Silvery Blue: https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/165903437

     The same pattern of flying, the same pleading from me. Suddenly beyond all expectations it did land. I quickly took a slow step forward, bringing the camera to my eye. Snapping a photo, likely out of focus, but perhaps enough for an id. 

   And then, and then, I realized the butterfly was still there. I moved closer. Took more photos. In jubilation, I adjusted the settings for a more ideal shot. More photos. And it was still there - in bright sunlight, without any plants blocking or shading it. I edged still closer, now within the optimal macro range of a few inches. Goosebumps raced across my arms. I probably flushed with delight. More photos, more camera adjustments. More photos. It was as if the butterfly landed and died on the spot. I breathed again after holding my breath through all the photos. I took in the beauty of its eye and antennae, of the orange wings, of the delicacy, and of the STILLNESS.

   I remember years ago in a photography class when a model came to sit for us students. I could not understand how she could sit so still for so long even with a bunch of us looking at her, staring at her, photographing her twenty minutes straight. I remember studying her shape, and her features like I had never seen a human before. (Spoiler alert or imagination alert - she was fully dressed). 

   And so it was with this butterfly, who, like some dragonflies, on occasion, model or sit for me allowing many photographs. 

   Models in the insect world are mostly impatient and are busy getting food for themselves and their families. Many are very skittish not wanting to be the dinner of others. 

   I get it when they don’t land for me or when they do land, immediately fly away if I so much as move a finger. 

  So I am overjoyed, entranced, exhilarated, and giddy even when an insect ‘model’ sits for me for up to three seconds or more. 

   All you insect models out there, in order to entice you to not move for at least three seconds while I take the shot, I offer the following: 

I will make you tea or coffee. Ask you how your day has been, ask you how you slept, ask you how work is. I will sympathize, empathize and let you chat about any problems you are having. I will make you laugh - Look I can do the bobblehead thing - the dragonflies seem to enjoy that. 

Just have your agent call me!

PS earlier this spring, the highlight of my day (other than spending time with Maeve planting 32 pepper plants), was observing a dragonfly from about a foot away and watching its abdomen throb, bend, extend, and then voila, it pooped. I love it when shit happens in our yard!

   All you dragonfly models out there: 

  Yes, this is a photo of a dragonfly pooping. Even in YOUR backyard, you can be sure, shit happens.

 

Inverting (insect watching) is being outside, observing, experiencing,

 the multitude, the diversity, the daily going ons of LIFE.

I am an 'inverter' & bird watcher!

Let's recognize our bond with all living species in nature.

See more of Jericho Backyard Nature Journals at https://vtbugeyed.blogspot.com/2023/05/jericho-underhill-vt-life-search-insect.html