Photos of a Neon Skimmer dragonfly interacting with realistic flies

Graham Owen Fly Fishing and Fly Tying pictures and information

Dragonfly Photography

Flies with an Attitude

Realistic orange dragonfly holding a realistic hand tied fishing fly

This story begins when I went to a local stream, with new digital camera in hand, eager to practice taking photos of a few of my realistic fishing flies. The first thing I did was place a realistic fly on top of a dried twig sticking up out of the ground

After taking one quick snapshot it appeared that noon was not the best time to take outdoor fly photos, the light was too bright, creating unwanted glare on the wings. I moved in a bit closer with the camera, and being unaccustomed to finding and focusing on small objects, I struggled to find the fly in the viewfinder. By the time focus was made, the fly was no longer on the twig. After searching for several minutes, crawling around on the ground, it finally occurred to me that something had taken the fly away.

After pulling another fly from my box, and deeply embedding the hook into the twig, I grabbed the camera, focused thought the viewfinder, and took a photo that stuck me as being rather unusual.

orange Neon Skimmer dragonfly prying a fly from a twig

A bright orange dragonfly seemed rather determined to pull an easy meal from the twig.

Macro photo of an orange dragonfly holding a house fly

Luckily the hook held tight, or another fly would have likely disappeared.

I thoroughly enjoyed taking photos of this beautiful dragonfly and was happy to get a few close-up shots.

(Libellula croceipennis) Neon Skimmer macro insect photography

I like this shot of an orange Neon Skimmer (Libellula croceipennis) dragonfly holding my realistic fly

The dragonfly pulled vigorously, perhaps trying to secure an easy meal

close up macro photography of an orange dragonflies wings

Then it struck me, what would happen if a dragonfly from my fly box was placed on the twig?

orange dragonfly on a twig with a realistic blue and yellow dragonfly

Almost immediately the orange dragonfly returned, landed beneath my yellow and blue fly, and slowly creeped closer and closer, but never did make contact. Numerous photos were taken, and a variety of facial expressions seemed evident, including this photo where it appears a mate might have been found. After about 15 minutes of quiet rejection, the orange dragonfly left the scene.

I began to wish I had a realistic orange dragonfly placed on the twig to see what would happen. The closest thing I had was a yellow and brown dragonfly, and perhaps putting some food in its grasp would entice the orange dragon to return.

It returned with an attitude, no hesitation what so ever, it was time to attack. It was interesting watching how savage and angry the dragonfly's attitude was, clearly trying to tear apart the wings of my replica.

Orange dragonfly attacking the wings of a realistic dragonfly

After a few minutes of furious action, the battle seemed to have been decided, and he was victorious and boss of the twig.

photo of an orange dragonfly resting ontop of the wings of a realistic dragonfly

I felt disappointed these photos were not taken with better late afternoon sunlight with less contrast but this was truly an incredible and fun experience. So, I kept playing, and placed my dragonfly on a different twig to see if the orange dragon would return with such a territorial attitude.

He crashed landed, knocked my fly sideways, and was determined to do some wing damage.

Orange dragonfly biting the wings of the realistic fly

By this time my lunch hour was over and a burning desire to tie an orange dragonfly that evening had set in. In fact I don't recall ever being so eager to get home from work and start tying a fly.

Hand tied realistic dragonfly holding a realistic fishing fly

I was back the next day, with my realistic replica orange dragonfly

Orange dragonfly fiercely attacking the wings of my realistic orange dragonfly

I enjoyed creating a realistic dragonfly and the unusual part was not my typical daydreaming about beautiful wild scenery and raging rivers full of huge fish, while fly tying, instead envisioning both violent as well as mating attitudes, captured and released with my camera.

The real orange dragonfly spent about 15 minutes touching and examining my realistic replica dragonfly, and may perhaps have believed it's mate had been found.