Hi there! I wanted to share a photo of a Male Widow Skimmer Dragonfly that I took on one of my walks near the Ouachita National Forest in Arkansas. I’m no expert when it comes to identifying dragonflies, but I’m pretty sure I got it right. These large dragonflies are common in the area.
I love going on photo walks during the summer and exploring the roads in the national forest. On this particular walk, I stumbled upon this dragonfly and couldn’t resist getting a shot of it.
Did you know that male Widow Skimmer Dragonflies are territorial and patrol large areas in search of females and to chase off other males? It’s amazing to think about all the activity going on in the sky. The female lays her eggs in shallow ponds or lakes, and it just so happens that there’s a pond not too far from where I was walking. The male has white spots on its wings, which is something you can see in my photo.
For the photo, I was using my Canon EOS 7D Mark II Camera with the Canon EF 100-400 mm f/4.5-5.6L IS II lens. I had the camera set to aperture priority mode with a shutter speed of 1/800 of a second, f5.6 aperture, and ISO 800. I also had the white balance set to auto. I was hand-holding the camera and using single point, continuous auto-focus with evaluative metering.
I hope you enjoy the photo!