Tuesday 18 October 2011

Scarlet Basker


The Scarlet Basker has got to be one of the easiest dragonflies to photograph. That is, if you're willing to put the hard hours in baking sun. Midday is when it is mostly at its element. The male above was shot in a quarry just 250 metres as a crow dragonfly flies from my garden. The owners of the quarry tolerate me trespassing it for my photo missions.

When I am chasing dragonflies, I rarely let other natural history distract me. With that single-mindedness, I just go flat out to get the results that I want. And that is dragonflies standing out in plainer backgrounds. Which do not compete for attention with the subject.


These were shot some time ago when I was using my Canon 40D. I coupled that with my Canon 100mm macro lens. The female above was shot at a privately owned wetland site near my place named Ketha, which is also famous for its juicy Rambutans.

I got less that a foot from these basking beauties to photograph them.

11 comments:

Kirigalpoththa said...

The red one is very attractive.

Lady divine said...

WOW! amazing pics as always...:)

Janith said...

Awesome photography, Amila. :D

Amila Salgado said...

K, yes it is.

LD, Thank you!

Chavie, Thank you!

silent moments said...

Fantastic pics of the basker...

I have captured a scarlet basker myself and it was also in a quarry under the hot sun at noon. Wonder if they prefer quarries ?

Amila Salgado said...

Patali,
Thanks. It just prefers open, sunny areas with sticks to perch beside a water body. The quarries have just that, but I cannot say it prefer quaries for other similar habitats.

Noushka said...

Fantastic pictures of a an "exotic" dragonfly... to me, living in France for the moment!
It is strange how the male looks much like the Sympetrum fonscolombii, except it lacks the bluish bands on the thorax!
I'll certainly be back soon to admire your dragons! :)
You can see mine here!:
http://aeshnat.blogspot.com/
Cheers!

Sunita Mohan said...

That Scarlet Basker is stunning! Well worth getting barbequed for.
Just wondering why it would prefer the quarries. Can't be for the food available or are these abandonned quarries with the vegetation taking over?

Amila Salgado said...

Thank you, Noushka.
It's very nice to hear from you!
Indeed, the male of this has a striking similarity to Sympetrum fonscolombii. You have a faboulous blog! I shall explore in lesiure with Google Translate to help me understand your posts. :)
Have a good weekend!

Thanks a lot, Sunita.
I was well-done by the time I finished the photo session! I think their presence in such habitats may be because of a combination of reasons (food, water and vegetation.)

Anonymous said...

Very nice photos. I can never get too close to these guys, so I stick to flowers for my Macros :) By the way I am building / modifying some bellows (FD) to attach to EF system and yet have the auto focus!. So far some good results with 1.4 50MM. Next round is to perfect my soldering :) I think it will be too unwieldy for these guys.

Amila Salgado said...

Thank you, Magerata.
Wow! I'd love to see the results of your modified system. Aren't you brainy!

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