Male Pacific Forktail On Duckweed 7089

            Actually the Forktail is just subtext. The text is that my mother was almost right. When I was a kid, no matter what I or my brother and I were up to, the admonition was, "You could put an eye out!" Even with our two Daisy BB guns, that never happened.

Now that I have become officially physically old, everybody in my mother's stead, warns me, "You could break a hip!" 

Today, just after getting this Forktail on duck weed (a first), all those people who have been warning about breakage were almost right. I had a good day with three or four good shots, and was packing it in and starting the trail back home. I didn't see the root of the oak tree that had been obscured by six foot oak grass and ... down I went, face first. My glasses flew off; my hat flew off; I landed on my phone; my camera and one eyeglass lens lay to the side; and I felt a trickle of blood. I am swoll as we used to say. My forehead somehow got scraped along with my knee. Did I tell you I got four or five good shots?

Came home, used soap and water, got in my car and went to an optometrist/optician office near home, and he repaired my glasses in 10 minutes. So here I am, and rather than tell you that the Pacific Forktail is a species of narrow-winged damselfly in the family Coenagrionidae and is found in Central America and North America, I'll just add that this damsel has five blue dots on top of its thorax, a distinguishing marker, and is less than half an inch long or 15 duck weed ... "leaves" from mandible to Segment 10 or the cercus, and how I spotted it was all because of that blue tail which he was flicking at me.

For those who've always wondered, the duckweeds (genus Lemna) and related genera of the duckweed family (Lemnaceae) are the smallest flowering plants known. Individual plants consist of a single, flat oval leaf (technically a modified stem) no more than ¼ of an inch long that floats on the surface of still-moving ponds, lakes, and sloughs.

Taken in: United States / California / Walnut Creek (show map)

Taken on: June 23, 2020

Tags:

Pacific Forktail Damselfly

Ischnura cervula

Dragons and Damsels

Insecta

Heather Farm Obstacle Course

Northern Caliornia

Canon SX50

Duckweed

World's Smallest Flowering Plant « less

Sets appears in: • Dragonflies & Damselflies • MY Favorites

Groups appears in: • Dragonflies • Art by Nature more » • Insect Photography • The Magic of Nature • Macro Bugs • Nature, wildlife, and the great outdoors • For The Love Of Dragonflies • Odonata • FLICKR INSECTS • Damselflies • Spectacular Insects • The Beauty of Nature • Cool insect photos • Beautiful Bugs • WORLD OF GREEN • North American Odonata • Dragonfly & Damselfly Moments (P 1 - A 2) • Wild Nature • America Dragonfly • Just Insects • Damsels and Dragons • Insects of the World • Realm of the Insect • NATURE'S PAINTBRUSH • Best Nature Shot Of The Day • Nature For All: Flora & Fauna • Amazing Insects! • .: Dragonfly & Damselfly Addicts :. « less

Camera: Canon PowerShot SX50 HS, f/8.0, 1/640 sec, 215mm, ISO 200 (more info) (hide info)

Camera:	Canon PowerShot SX50 HS
Aperture:	f/8.0
Exposure Time:	0.002 sec (1/640)
Focal Length:	215mm
ISO:	200
Exposure Bias:	-1/3 EV
Flash:	Off, Did not fire
Exposure Mode:	Manual
Metering Mode:	Multi-segment
White Balance:	Auto
Color Space:	sRGB
Software:	ACDSee Pro 6
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