Yesterday I dragged out the Micro Aquaria and a dollar store net to see what I could find in the pond at Hastings Park. This little park is a bit of an oasis for me, featuring a real live pond, some nice vegetation, and an eagle’s nest across the street.  It was actually a bit less seething with life than I’d hoped*, but there was quite a bit to keep me occupied for a few hours.

The damselflies were abundant and quite pretty.

I was interested that the black and white striping is actually banding on the tracheae.

This one nears eclosion, with well-developed wing buds.

A lovely backswimmer! Note how the dorsal surface faces down and is light colored, while the ventral surface is dark and faces up.

A water boatman at rest on the bottom. You can see the “plastron” bubble on the ventral portion of the abdomen that is the gas exchange structure employed by this insect.

At the end of the day, I think I really need to refine my techniques for aquatic photography. There are some people who can do it really well; for an example, check out Jan Hamrsky’s photostream. I really miss the saturation and clarity you get with the air-to lens interface. I will work on this over the summer, in between the thesis, grant and job search…Keep posted, and I will keep posting!

* I did find a waterscorpion, bit of course this was far too large for my aquaria!