Pond Life Shows Spring Is Here

 

Dragonfly Larva, by Reed A. George

Panasonic Lumix DMC-G3, 14-140mm f4-5.8 at 140mm

iso160, f5.8, 1/2000 sec

 

So, in my full-time job, I work for a biomedical research organization. One of our researchers studies the predator-prey behavior of dragonflies. It turns out, these guys are the ultimate predators of the insect world, and exhibit very complicated visual processing and use sophisticated guidance algorithms to intercept their flying prey in mid air.

 

Okay, by now you're wondering "What the heck does this have to do with photography?" Well, our scientists gather dragonfly larvae, like the one above, from the ponds on our campus. I got the opportunity to enjoy a little warm spring weather, and photograph them in action.

 

 

Collecting, by Reed A. George

Panasonic Lumix DMC-G3, 14-140mm f4-5.8 at 140mm

iso160, f5.5, 1/500 sec

 

While they were collecting, we started to notice what we thought were frogs singing to each other. They turned out to be toads, Eastern American Toads (Anaxyrus americanus americanus), which were quite amorous, and the singing led to other things.

 

 

Singing to the Girls, by Reed A. George

Panasonic Lumix DMC-G3, 14-140mm f4-5.8 at 140mm

iso160, f5.8, 1/500 sec

I love how you can see the vibrations in the water in the shot above. In the shot below, a pair are breeding. The helical black strands that you see in the picture below are the fertilized eggs.

Breeding Pair, by Reed A. George

Panasonic Lumix DMC-G3, 14-140mm f4-5.8 at 140mm

iso160, f5.8, 1/500 sec

 

On this particular day, the boss got selected to spend an hour in one of the staff's shoes (waders). As you can see below, he had a pretty good time out wading around in the pond.

 

A Good Day at Work, by Reed A. George

Panasonic Lumix DMC-G3, 14-140mm f4-5.8 at 140mm

iso160, f5.8, 1/500 sec

 

It's nice to see that Spring is here.

 

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