toy copter

Peter Martin

toy copter

A dragon fly, sunning itself on the stone wall beside the main (large) pool of the main garden in Mt Annan Botanical Gardens. Extreme provocation was needed to unseat this insect who, it seemed, was quite happy to sit through 20 or more flash bursts, just to warm itself up.

I realise this is a living organism, but honestly, it does look like a childs R/C toy copter. To be honest, despite being efficient hunters and magnificently proficient aeronauts, dragon flies do seem as though they were put together in a hurry (quickly mass produced in a factory, ready for the Christmas silly season). Big red fire-engines, with wings, and teeth. They seem to lack that “Finished” quality of other insects, and yet as fierce preditors, they have survived and not needed to evolve a smoothness of lines as have other, less successful insects.

Mt Annan Botanical Gardens
Sunday 19th July 2009, 1:30pm.

Canon EOS 40D.
Aperture Priority: 1/250sec, f/16, ISO-200.
Ring Flash.
Sigma 150(240)mm 1:1 macro lens.
RAW processed in Lightroom.

3426×2284 (cropped from 3888×2592) 1:1 x Lifesize.

toy copter belongs to the following groups:

Birds and Creatures of Flight, Bug Hunt! (with Location please), Butterflies, Skippers, Moths, & Other Winged Insects (2 a Day), Colour Me Vibrant Red!, Dragonflies, Extreme Close-Ups, Eye Macros, Nature's Wonders, Top Shelf Wildlife & Nature Art and Vibrant and Vivid Color Available for sale as

Greeting Cards, Matted Prints, Laminated Prints, Mounted Prints, Canvas Prints and Framed Prints

toy copter by Peter Martin
toy copter by Peter Martin
  • CapturedByKylie

    CapturedByKylie

    Looks like “she’s” had botox injections to get those big pouty lips too! LOL

  • Peter Martin replied

    Hi Kylie – that’s two of these big red fire-engines with wings that I’ve seen with big pouty lips – must be a congenital thing.

    The thing that gets me with these is they do indeed have EYES EVERYWHERE, yet they are quite happy to sit at 20cm away while some clutz fumbles with a camera and takes about 50 photos of it.
    They know they’re THAT GOOD at getting away, they just don’t care. Their confidence is almost unsettling in some ways…

  • Vanessa Barklay

    Vanessa Barklay

    Fantastic image, great insects indeed! There is a Dragonflies group :O)

  • Vanessa Barklay

    Vanessa Barklay


    Please check Bug Hunt! page to see it displayed! :O)

  • Peter Martin replied

    Thanks for the spotlight – that looks really cool!! =)

  • Scott  d'Almeida

    Scott d'Almeida

    awesome ideal

  • Peter Martin replied

    thanks Scott!

  • Sharona

    Sharona

    Amazing macro Peter.

  • Peter Martin replied

    thanks Sharona

  • naturelover
  • Peter Martin replied

    Wow THANKS for the Feature!! =))

  • FailingMemory

    FailingMemory

    Amazing, I haven’t seen this variety. All the one’s I’ve seen disappear as soon as a camera comes out. I guess I’ve not got up early while they are cold.

  • Peter Martin replied

    Thanks ‘FailingMemory’. It was a sunny 1:30PM – I think this guy was just buggered after a lot of flying and chasing other insects and needed a quick break – when he finally took off, he took off at speed, so maybe he just had things on his mind, or maybe he was teasing me.

  • hopelilly

    hopelilly

    what a lovely creature, never seen one that colour before.

  • Peter Martin replied

    Thanks ‘HopeLilly”.

  • Christophe Testi

    Christophe Testi

    Great macro!

  • Peter Martin replied

    Thanks Christophe

  • Rick Fin

    Rick Fin

    Congratulations on your feature/spotlight Peter! Head & eyes sharply in focus and nice perspective. The texture of the ground looks great too.=)

  • Peter Martin replied

    Thanks Rick – can’t wait to see yours of the same

  • Tracy Faught

    Tracy Faught

    Don’t know how I missed this one Peter! So beautiful! Congrats once again on you feature! :]

  • Peter Martin replied

    thanks Tracy =)

  • BigD

    BigD

    Excellent close up

  • Peter Martin replied

    Thanks Big D

  • Tenee Attoh

    Tenee Attoh

    Excellent shot!!!

  • Peter Martin replied

    Thanks Tenee

  • Lisa  Weber
  • Peter Martin replied

    Thanks Lisa =)

  • Tenee Attoh

    Tenee Attoh

    What a fantastic shot, great work.

  • Peter Martin replied

    Thanks Tenee =)

  • Eva and Klaus Weber-Wanjek

    Eva and Klaus ...

    WoW!
    Wonderful shot!

  • Peter Martin replied

    Thanks very much Eva and Klaus

  • Roka

    Roka

    Amazing!

  • Peter Martin replied

    thanks Roka

  • Jellybean720

    Jellybean720

    WOW.. I just love there eyes.. never seen a red one.. Great Capture and Congratulations on your feature :))

  • Peter Martin replied

    Thanks JellyBean

  • Peter Martin replied

    thanks JellyBean – yep these ones certainly are vivid and not as colour subdued as the bluey-green ones

  • Edge-of-dreams

    Edge-of-dreams

    This is amazing – never seen a red one before!

  • Peter Martin replied

    Thanks Mia (I looked it up on your site, and it’s shorter)

  • TrixiJahn

    TrixiJahn

    Fantastic!!!

  • Peter Martin replied

    thanks TrixiJahn

  • danita clark

    danita clark 19 days ago

    WOnderful photo !

  • Peter Martin replied 19 days ago

    thanks Danita

  • horsegoggles

    horsegoggles 18 days ago

    This is a spectacular photo.

  • Peter Martin replied 18 days ago

    thanks horsegoggles :)

  • D. AMO

    D. AMO 2 days ago

    WOW! decided to check out RED, for some December stimulation…AND! MY! Your lovely dragonfly caught my eye FOCUS from the shock of ALL that glorious RED! Thanks so much for the visual aqnd mental information! Deluxe! CHRISTMAS IN JULY! Love the eternal black dot in (the?) left eye!

  • Peter Martin replied 2 days ago

    thanks D

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