Sunday, June 24, 2012

The Greenest Dragonfly I've Ever Seen

While out for a walk along Bog Meadow Nature Trail today, I spotted the greenest dragonfly I have ever seen, and I actually got a pretty good photo of it.  How lucky, too, that I found it perching over brown sand instead of hidden among green leaves.  Over the phone, my friend Sue talked me through the pages of the Stokes Beginners Guide to Dragonflies, and we decided this either a female or an immature male Eastern Pondhawk (Erithemis simplicicollis).

This blog's readers may remember that I posted a photo of an adult male Eastern Pondhawk not too long ago, and I'm reposting that photo so we can have a complete set here.  Note that both sexes have bright green faces and white appendages at the ends of their abdomens.


6 comments:

threecollie said...

Oh, what incredible beauties!! And congrats on the outstanding photos of them. Can't wait for camp when I will get my fill of them all around us. I don't know their names but I love their beauty and it is an honor to have one perch on the tip of my fishing pole for a few seconds.

Caroline said...

You sure can see where the Art Deco jewelry designers might have gotten inspiration from this guy!

Auntie sezzzzzz... said...

Gorgeous!

Both of them...

happyone said...

That certainly is the greenest dragonfly I've ever seen too!
Fantastic photo.

Jeff Nadler said...

Gorgeous and unusual color!

Jacqueline Donnelly said...

Thank you, friends, for all your appreciative comments. It's always an amazing feat for me to get a good photo of a dragonfly, since they rarely sit still long enough or close enough. All of them are beautiful, but one this was even more beautiful than ever. A great stroke of luck!