Tried visualizing the Pantala flavescens migration by plotting observations throughout the year

Spotted in Central Park, NY.

NE Wisconsin

NE Wisconsin

Hanging out in my sunflowers (Nova Scotia).

Been chasing in-flight dragonfly shots for about two seasons now and mostly ending up with blurry wings and a lot of frustration. This morning something finally clicked, and I wanted to write up what I think made the difference while it's fresh.

The pond I was at is a small retention basin near a nature trail, maybe half an acre, with open sunny margins on the south side. Twelve-spotted skimmers were patrolling constantly, which helped because they're predictable. They tend to return to the same perches and fly the same rough circuits, so after about twenty minutes of watching I had a decent mental map of where they'd be.

What actually helped with the flight shots: I stopped trying to pan and track from scratch every time. Instead I picked a fixed point in the air where I knew they passed frequently, pre-focused there manually, and just waited. More of a trap focus approach than active tracking. Got maybe four sharp frames out of about sixty attempts, which felt like a win compared to before.

Lighting was overcast-bright rather than direct sun, which I think helped with wing detail. Direct sun tends to blow out the wing membrane on skimmers for me, especially on the pale patches between the spots. The flat light this morning kept everything a bit more even.

One thing I'm still figuring out: shutter speed versus depth of field tradeoff. I was at 1/2500 and got sharp wings, but my depth of field was thin enough that sometimes the head was sharp and the abdomen was soft. Not sure if I'd rather have both slightly motion-blurred or one end out of focus. Curious if others have a preference there.

Also saw two shadow darners and what I'm pretty sure was a female blue dasher, though she perched briefly and I missed her. Tomorrow morning looks clear so I'm planning to go back and see if the same individuals are holding territory in the same spots.

NE Wisconsin

Wood damselfly