DENNIS PAULSON, THE DRAGONFLY'S FRIEND HAS WRITTEN A NEW FIELD GUIDE...

http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/outdoors/2003763969_nwwwanders280.html

AND, last evening I was surprised and very flattered to see that he will be using one of my photographs of a fairly rare Slender Baskettail in this new and important field guide on dragonflies of the eastern USA. It will appear in 2011.

Thank you, Dennis. The photo at the top of my blog this week is of our familiar Blue Dasher. This one was very patient.

I don't catch butterflies or any insect in a net. I do not collect or pin them. I don't catch and chill them in order to photograph them. In my extensive collection of photographs of insects, primarily butterflies, and the odonates (dragonflies and damselflies) they were stalked and photographed, and left to live their rather perilous life. In so doing, I have drowned a camera, fallen in the creek, baked in the midday Florida sun and waded in muck. I love it.

The fun is in the chase; the satisfaction is of capturing usable images of these magnificently designed animals. It's getting cold here. In the last two weeks I have found a few large darners
chilled on the wall of the house in the morning, waiting for the sun to warm them. I picked one up who had become entangled in spider webs and carefully removed them from its feet and body. As I held it, it felt like it a tiny machine; like the motor inside was revved up and waiting
for the command to fly. I imagined it like a tiny helicopter whirring in place, in my hand. All I had to do was place it in a sunspot and it would warm up enough to take off, which it did.

So thank you, Dennis. I am thrilled and grateful for this honor.