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Greg Lasley Nature Photography
All of the images are copyright-protected and have been digitally watermarked and
their display here in no way implies consent for any form of distribution or reuse.
Refer to my image use page if you are interested in purchasing rights. Thanks!
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The Turquoise-tipped
Darner (Rhionaeschna psilus) was thought to be a fairly rare visitor to Texas until 2004. Prior to 2005, it was not known to breed in the U.S. On 16 November 2003, Steve Bentsen and I found a single (apparently young?) Turquoise-tipped Darner foraging over an area of south Texas brushland in central Starr County, Texas. There was no water in the area, but the ground was muddy from recent rains. At least a dozen species of odonates were seen in the general vicinity on this date. The darner did not land even though we watched it foraging for about 10 minutes. Finally it was netted for in-hand photos. The top two shots here were digital captures taken in with a Canon EOS 10D and EF 70-200 mm F2.8 L IS lens with and 550 EX flash. These photos represent the first record for Starr County and one of relatively few records for the state.
In late May, 2004, Dan Hardy found two Turquoise-tipped Darners in Austin, Travis Co., Texas. Dan took me to the location where I was able to get several shots of a beautiful adult. Scroll down to the first shot of the adult below the hand-held photos. This record represents the first for Travis Co.
 
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In May 2005, Dan Hardy again found more Turquoise-tipped Darners at the same site in Austin. Below will be several shots taken in early June 2005. All these below images were taken with a Canon EOS 1D Mark II and an EF 300mm F/4 L IS lens and 580 flash. The bottom shot below shows the a male darner perched just below a Great Spreadwing. Female Turquoise-tipped Darners have been seen ovipositing at this location by several observers including Dan Hardy, John Abbott, Greg Lasley, and John Ingram. John Abbott and John Ingram have been able to photograph females ovipositing, but so far this activity has eluded my lens.
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The Turquoise-tipped Darner in the next 2 shots was at Bentsen State Park, Hidalgo Co., Texas, in June, 2008. These images were taken with a Canon EOS 1D Mark III and EF 300mm F/4 L IS lens and 2X extender with flash.
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