Genetic Transfer...

Or keeping me in business...

Green Marsh Hawks

Mating, looks like it is a bit complicated for these creatures.

Not that complicated. I would say functional. Because they are still able to fly in that position - and they are totally coordinated and can fly really fast. She holds her head to his tail (sometimes he has a little forked clasp that holds her head). She places her tail to his abdomen and receives his sperm which may be kept for later or used immediately. Often they will fly around together after mating and she repetitively dips her tail into the water releasing eggs. Sometimes they separate first. Which way they do it is species dependent. There are advantages to this approach. Staying together he fends off other males - sometimes if separated he will fly above while she lays her eggs. In their current form they have been around for about 200 million years - they must be doing something right...

¡Hola Bryan!
A good capture, and a great explanation of the curious behavior of these colorful bugs…

Cheers! 👍

A heavy crop - just to show a pair in action

A closer view of a pair.

Common Gliders

???

I have entered many in the Photo of the Week competition and never won any of those 😤 - also a few in the DPR challenges and scored a 5th and 6th against everything but birds - but they vote weird over there...

On a serious note, I would like to enter them in some of the mainstream media photo sections but they don't make it easy to submit - I get the feeling they may be swamped by every man and his dog... On our local non commercial news site there isn't a submit link to be found and emails go unanswered - but they still publish a monthly selection of user photos. I did manage to submit one to the Guardian and got an email that it was shortlisted but nothing more. They have an unintuitive list of rules and procedures which must be followed so I was never sure if I did things correctly...

This is a fantastic capture! I'm bored of reading out there that Panasonic's autofocus doesn't measure up, but it's clear that, in good hands, it gives good results...

Thanks doctor

Truth be told, this is one of two out of maybe 40 that I took of these two today. But that's because (a) things happen so fast and (b) the area AF may focus on the wing or somewhere else leaving the head and body oof.

The OM1 and G9 II AF are better than this G9 - OM1 marginally the best. The plan is to get one of those one day. From what I have read, there are only a few of the best FF cameras that can match them with AF and they are expensive. Then there is the issue of reach and weight. I see people using 200, 400, 500mm and cropping but even with the extra pixels they lose in the long run. I think the quality of the top m43 lenses is just too good. There are the odd FF lenses that compare but they are heavy and really expensive. I just can't imagine trying to wield one of those things in such a dynamic situation.
I didn't plan it this way - m43 was all I could afford. And I have been very fortunate to get a really good copy of my 100-400mm (800 efl) lens. Apart from the AF and weight / size considerations, the sharpness of this lens is the differentiating factor - the OM 300 f4 and 150-400 are the gold standard but this one is really close. A few days ago I watched numerous utube vids from people into dragonflies. Most were not getting what I am. There was one person with top of the range FF kit doing well and another with an OM1 II doing really well - he is a very accomplished wildlife photographer.