The Whisperer Speaks Again!

We'll be giving a presentation at 6:30 pm this evening at the Burlington Public Library in Burlington, WA. It looks like a very nice facility:







We hope to see you there!

Also, don't forget about the Dragonfly Whisperer segment on Evening Magazine this evening at 7:30 pm on Channel 5. Here's the original post:


A few weeks ago, Evening Magazine from King5 TV came to Anacortes to do an interview with the Dragonfly Whisperer. It will be aired on September 11 at 7:30 pm.





They were getting some great shots with their video equipment. They could fill the entire frame with small damselflies, and get really nice close ups of dragonflies. Here's the cameraman getting a video of me taking a picture of him (notice the reflection of my hands holding my camera in the video lens):



We filmed at Cranberry Lake, where we took videos of damselflies, and at Heart Lake, where we concentrated on dragonflies. At Heart Lake we had a nice look at a female Cardinal Meadowhawk. They got great video of the dragonfly, as well as video of me taking pictures of it. They will then intersperse some of my still shots, like this one, in the finished segment:



We also saw several Eight-spotted Skimmers, again with the video camera getting great views, as well as shots of me taking pictures of the dragonflies. Some had quite a bit of wear on their wings, like this one:



One even had an entire wing missing. I've seen ragged wings, and wings with sections missing, but this was the first time I had seen a dragonfly with one wing completely gone.



As the cameraman for Evening Magazine said, "It's amazing it doesn't just fly around in circles." That's right, but in fact it was flying pretty much normally.

I'm sure the segment on King5 will be quite brief, but it will be fun to see some dragonflies on TV.

The Whisperer Spoke—And Speaks Again Tomorrow!

Betsy and I gave a dragonfly talk yesterday evening at the Anacortes Library. It was a lot of fun, and thanks to all who attended for your enthusiastic response.

Tomorrow evening we give another talk at Village Books in Bellingham. Here's an ad for the event:



I hope to see another large group of dragonfly enthusiasts for a fun and educational evening!

P. S. Here are a couple photos from the eclipse at Volcanoes Stadium last week.



The top photo shows a series of partial phases plus totality by professional photographer Ben Ammon. The lower photo is from Sports Illustrated showing the Volcanoes ballplayers—one of whom is viewing the partial phase of the eclipse—wearing their special eclipse-day jerseys. What an experience!

The Whisperer To Speak at Sound Waters!

I'll be giving two talks tomorrow at the Sound Waters environmental conference on Whidbey Island. The conference is advertised as "a one day university for all—on all things Puget Sound." Should be a lot of fun. The firs talk will be a general introduction to dragonflies in Puget Sound, and the second talk will focus on darners and their interesting behavior.

Here's the handout for the talks:

See you there tomorrow!

The Whisperer Speaks!

I'll be giving a talk tomorrow at the Garden Club on Samish Island. Should be a lot of fun.

Here's the handout for the talk:

See you there tomorrow!

The Whisperer Speaks!

Greetings Dragonfly Enthusiasts!

The Dragonfly Whisperer will be speaking again tomorrow night (March 18) in Sedona, AZ, and again on Thursday night (March 19) at Flagstaff, AZ.  Here's the ad for talks:

Here's the handout for the talk.  Feel free to download it and print it on your own printer.

I hope to see you there.  Should be a fun evening.  Be sure to come up and say "Hi."

The Whisperer Speaks Tomorrow!

Here's sort of an engraved invitation to tomorrow's dragonfly talk, by way of the Vitruvian Darner:

This dragonfly (the Happy-face Dragonfly) shows the nice proportions of da Vinci's Vitruvian Man.

I was curious how these proportions would compare with other dragonflies, so I tried a Vitruvian Glider, based on a Wandering Glider:

Not surprisingly, the broad, wide wings of the glider give it distinctly different proportions.

Both of these sketches were taken from photographs, so the proportions are true to life.

Off to Prescott tomorrow.

The Whisperer Speaks: Dragonfly 101 Handout

I've prepared a handout to go along with my upcoming talk for Prescott Audubon.  Unfortunately, I don't know how many to expect at the meeting, so it's probably best to post the handout here where everyone can have a copy if they like.

This should make the handout available to a wider audience, and also provide a color version suitable for printing at home.  Please feel free to print out a copy.  No need to bring it with you, unless you want to use it to take notes.

See you there, Thursday.

The Whisperer Speaks in One Week!

In just one week, on Thursday, May 22, 2014, The Dragonfly Whisperer speaks at the general meeting of the Prescott Audubon Society.  They've been kind enough to invite me, and I'm looking forward to a fun evening.  We also plan to conduct a dragonfly walk the following day.

They have a very active organization, with lots of different programs, and they've produced some excellent promotional materials to advertise the talk.  Here's an example:

That should attract some attention.  Even the Vitruvian Dragonfly is getting into the act:

Prescott Audubon's website contains more specific information:

Be sure to say "Hi" if you can make it to the presentation.  Betsy and I will be looking onward to seeing you..

You can find more information about Prescott Audubon at their website:

http://prescottaudubon.org

The Whisperer Speaks!

It's just under two months now until The Dragonfly Whisperer speaks at the general meeting of the Prescott Audubon Society on May 22, 2014.  They've been kind enough to invite me, and I'm looking forward to a fun evening.

They have a very active organization, with lots of different programs, and they've produced some excellent promotional materials to advertise the talk.  As an example, here's an ad they'll distribute in April:

That should attract some attention.

Their website contains more specific information:

Betsy and I will be there – be sure to say "Hi" if you can make it, too.

You can find more information about Prescott Audubon at their website:

http://prescottaudubon.org

The Whisperer Speaks: Intriguing Aspects of Dragonfly Behavior

On Saturday, I had the pleasure of giving two dragonfly talks for the Sound Waters Conference.  Thanks so much for attending, and making it an enjoyable experience for all.

Here's a brief description of the talk I gave on dragonfly behavior:

My background, which is mainly in theoretical physics, is described below.  I've been studying dragonflies with increasing interest for the last 6 years or so.

Here's the handout for the dragonfly behavior talk.

After the talk, I was asked about the camera that was used to take the slow-motion videos.  They were taken with a simple point-and-shoot camera called the Casio EX-FH25, shown below.  I shoot the videos at 240 frames per second, which gives good time resolution for observing dragonfly behavior.

I was also asked about the Dragonfly Society of the Americas, and their scientific publication, Argia.  You can find more information about the DSA at the website for Odonata Central, as shown below.

The link to this page is

http://odonatacentral.org/index.php/PageAction.get/name/DSAHomePage

Here's an example of Argia, showing the first paper I published describing the spin-dry behavior of dragonflies:

The Whisperer Speaks: Identifying Dragonflies in Puget Sound

On Saturday, February 1, I gave a pair of dragonfly talks for the Sound Waters environmental conference in Oak Harbor.  These talks were a little more detailed and technical than the ones I've given in the past.  The first talk was on identifying common Puget Sound dragonflies, and the second one dealt with interesting aspects of dragonfly behavior.

Here's a description of the ID talk:

Here's page 1 of the handout I gave out for the identification talk.  It deals with identifying common non-darner dragonflies by color:

Here's page 2 of the handout, which deals with identification of common Puget Sound darners:

Thanks for attending, and participating with many interesting and insightful questions.  You helped make it an enjoyable experience for all of us.

Happy dragonflying!

The Dragonfly Whisperer Speaks Again!

It's not too soon to make plans for the upcoming Dragonfly Whisperer Talk to be given at the Prescott Audubon Society's general meeting on May 22, 2014.  They've been kind enough to invite me to speak, and I'm looking forward to it.

They have a very active organization, with lots of different programs, and they've produced some excellent promotional materials to advertise the talk.  As an example, here's an ad they'll distribute next April:

That should attract some attention.

Their website contains more specific information:

Looks like a good talk!  Betsy and I will be there – be sure to say "Hi" if you can make it too.

You can find more information about Prescott Audubon at the following website:

http://prescottaudubon.org

The Whisperer Speaks, Again!

I hope you can join us this Saturday, May 4, for a Dragonfly Whisperer presentation at the Boyce Thompson Arboretum.  The talk starts at 10 a.m., and will include a number of interesting dragonfly anecdotes, some basic dragonfly biology, an introduction to the Happy-face Dragonfly, and slow-motion videos showing dragonflies bathing and spin-drying (at 1,000 rpm!) on the wing.

Here's an ad from the Boyce Thompson Arboretum newsletter.  The homepage for the arboretum can be found at the following link: http://arboretum.ag.arizona.edu.

I know I usually "whisper," but I'll limber up my vocal chords for the talk.  I'll also give tips on how you too can do some dragonfly whispering!  We look forward to seeing you there.

You Can Be A Dragonfly Whisperer Too!

Yes, the dragonfly whisperer will be speaking again in the near future.  This is your opportunity to hear about some of the fascinating experiences the dragonfly whisperer has had with dragonflies, and to learn how to do some dragonfly whispering on your own.

The upcoming talk will be at the Boyce Thompson Arboretum on the morning of May 4 (probably at 10 am in the Smith Building, but specific time and place still to be set).  A brief description from last year's talk is given below:

Here's a link to the arboretum website, where you can get the latest details on the time and location of the Dragonfly Whisperer talk, and also find out about the many great events offered by the arboretum:

http://arboretum.ag.arizona.edu

I hope to see you there!

The Whisperer Spoke!

Many thanks to the Maricopa Audubon Society for sponsoring my talk on dragonflies last night.  I had a great time, and met a lot of wonderful people.  I hope you enjoyed learning a bit about these fascinating creatures.

I mentioned during the talk that I would put some technical information on my blog, including the field guides, the camera equipment I use, and websites.  I'll start with the field guides.

A good beginners field guide to southwest dragonflies and damselflies is the following book by Kathy Biggs:

A more advanced, and comprehensive guide to dragonflies and damselflies of western North America is this field guide by Dennis Paulson:

As for cameras, I use a point-and-shoot for general pictures, occasional macro shots, and dragonflies that are at a distance.  My camera is a Canon Powershot SX30:

There are many fine digital cameras on the market today, and they are all very good.  Canon is now making the SX50 and I'll probably get it soon.

For micro-type shots, I use a Nikon D300 with a 105mm micro lens.  It's a nice lens, and I'm very happy with the results it gives.

Finally, the slow-motion videos are taken with a point-and-shoot camera called the Casio EX-FH25, shown below.  I shoot my videos at 240 frames per second, which gives good time resolution for observing dragonfly behavior.

As far as websites go, the one for Arizona dragonflies is at the following link.  It's a great resource, with many pictures of each species, a comparison of similar species, and a list of good dragonfly locations in the state.

http://www.azdragonfly.net/welcome

Happy Dragonflying!