Red Dragon

I was set up for hovering bee shots when finally, the red dragon landed next to me. I took a quick shot as a backup and then adjusted the camera settings to get better shots, but when I looked up she was gone. Pity, but I am sure I will get more opportunities, as she is around most days.

The red dragonfly appears to be a little smaller that the other dragons that I have blipped. This is also the first solid color winged dragon that I have photographed. The wing shape and abdomen shape are very similar to the brown that I blipped yesterday, so probably closely related. Some research needs to be done, as I am getting no feedback from the Asian dragonfly web site.

Look at the strength in the wing structure, much heavier than the transparent winged dragons. On all the recent dragon shots, I have noticed a V indentation just behind the leading edge of both sets of wings, which extends from the thorax to the kink, half way along the leading edge. Both the indentation and the kink are common features on all dragonflies and is obviously of some significance. There is a lot of PHD research going on at the moment on the subject of insect flight, I wonder if they have picked up on this indentation feature.

Insects use a different theory of flight to mans interpretation of aerodynamics, which is based on laminar or smooth flow. Insects use vortex theory, a fact that has only recently been discovered in the last ten years or so, clever little BUGgers. Scientists knew something strange was going on because according to conventional aerodynamic theory, there is no way that a bumble bee should be capable of flight.

On the downward wing stroke, the airflow trips over the wing leading edge and forms a vortex over the top of the wing surface. This is probably were the indentation serves its purpose, by promoting the formation of the vortex. Also the indentation houses a low pressure which provides an upward force. That's enough technical talk for now, but this is a favorite subject of mine.

Hope you enjoy this beautiful creature and hope I can bring you something better of the Red Dragon in the near future.

Dave