Dragonfly

I noticed this dragonfly hanging on the side of the house and expected it to fly away when I got close. Sadly, it turned out to be half dead and unable to fly. But that made for a cooperative photographic subject so I had time to get out the macro lens. Shallow depth of field but it shows some detail. I like the hexagonal highlights on the huge compound eyes, presumably because the cells (ommatidia) are laid out hexagonally. Compound eyes aren't very high resolution but they are good at detecting movement and also in detecting when prey is front and center to strike at.



Worth viewing larger (click on the image)