Winged Wednesday 08/19/2026

[Douglas Sherman]

I am going to start this off with a dragonfly today. I captured this the other day at a small pond that harbors lots of water lilies. You just have to wait for the dragonflies to land. The trick is to find a particular water lily that they tend to use, get everything in focus, and wait. Here is the best image I got. Please pile on with your winged animals.

Blue dasher dragonfly on his perch, waiting to spot prey.

 

[AlanLichty]

I like your approach to getting this shot. Very nice with the flower as a perch.

My offering is a damselfly that was flitting about amongst some catnip blooms while I was standing nearby shooting honeybees so I grabbed a shot when it landed which wasn't all that often and never in the same spot.

 

[larryj]

Portrait of a American White Pelican preening:

 

[Trent Watts]

I will add three insects from this week.

A stink bug ended up in my bucket when I was picking Red Currants so I set it on a rock and it cooperated.

I'm not sure what kind of bumblebee this is. It was quite a large one and was busy on my Milkweed plant.

This was a new species for me. It really looked like some kind of wasp or hornet but the head was wrong for that species. Turns out it is a Four-lined Hornet Fly according to BugGuide.

Close up of the head with such intriguing eyes.

 

[Eric Gofreed]

I am going to start this off with a dragonfly today. I captured this the other day at a small pond that harbors lots of water lilies. You just have to wait for the dragonflies to land. The trick is to find a particular water lily that they tend to use, get everything in focus, and wait. Here is the best image I got. Please pile on with your winged animals.


View attachment 90744


Blue dasher dragonfly on his perch, waiting to spot prey.

Great one, Doug. Windmill Park?

 

[Eric Gofreed]

I will add three insects from this week.

A stink bug ended up in my bucket when I was picking Red Currants so I set it on a rock and it cooperated.
View attachment 90764

I'm not sure what kind of bumblebee this is. It was quite a large one and was busy on my Milkweed plant.
View attachment 90765

This was a new species for me. It really looked like some kind of wasp or hornet but the head was wrong for that species. Turns out it is a Four-lined Hornet Fly according to BugGuide.
View attachment 90767

Close up of the head with such intriguing eyes.
View attachment 90766

Great shots, Trent. Your bumblebee is either the common eastern or the two-spotted bumblebee. They’re very similar, share the same habitat, and can be tricky to tell apart. The main differences are in the subtle markings on their abdomens and thoraxes.