I finally got a halfway decent photo of a water strider on the surface of the water the other day on the Quinebaug River at Brimfield, MA.  It was one of those pleasant paddles where I had plenty of time to sit and just wait for nature to happen close enough to me to get some photos.

The water strider, also known as the pond skater, is an insect of the family Gerridae. It can run across the surface of water. It lives on ponds and slow-running streams and rarely goes underwater. The underside of the body is covered with water-repellent hair. 

Another nickname is the Jesus Bug, for obvious reasons.  There are about 500 different species of these things.

I also played around with grabbing a dragonfly on a floating leaf, some bumblebees doing their job, an eastern kingbird posing nicely and a green heron way up in a dead tree.  All the photos are below, just click on any one to see the larger versions.

And below are some people photos from the day, including one of me, courtesy of friend John Messier.