Four-winged huntersWe've seen lots of dragonflies and damselflies in our garden through the years. These grand creatures are in the insect order Odonata, whose ancestors flew (in much larger sizes) among the dinosaurs. Some of them seem to never sit still, forever zigzagging the outline of their territory. Others are more accommodating to my camera - their pictures can be found on this page. The dragonsDragonflies (suborder Anisoptera) are the larger of the two, with
robust bodies and large eyes that together span most of the width of their heads.
When at rest, their wings are spread apart.
This twelve-spotted skimmer (Libellula pulchella)
shows off its white and black wingspots, perched on a fading cattail. The
white spots only appear on mature males of the species.
Another twelve-spotted skimmer. This one kept returning
to perch atop the little bean teepee we built in Max's garden.
I've been told this is an immature male widow skimmer (Libellula luctuosa). He
stuck around for a while, long enough for a photo op.
Several blue dashers were flitting around the pond today, but one sat down
for a portrait (Pachydiplax longipennis). The photo below is a different
one on a different day, using the same iris as a perch.
The two photos below are of the same individual (he wouldn't sit still,
hence the different perches). It's a dragon hunter (Hagenius brevistylus),
one of the largest dragonflies I've seen in the garden. I spotted him on one
of the big rocks adjacent to our big pond one sunny late-summer afternoon; when
I kept trying to take his picture he eventually buzzed off to the neighbors'
yard.
This female Eastern pond hawk (Erythemis
simplicicollis) stopped by one morning to warm herself on our flat-rock
pathway. She didn't stay long, and I haven't seen her or her kin near our
pond.
When I first spotted this female Eastern amberwing
(Perithemis tenera) flitting about our cutting garden, I thought it
was a spreadwing damselfly – it was smaller than other common
dragonflies in our garden. But closer up, it was clearly a dragon. The way
the light hits the wings in this photo, you can't discern the patterning
– if I see her again, I'll try to get a top view shot.
This male autumn meadowhawk (Sympetrum vicinum) was happily sunning
himself on the rocks surrounding our big pond one late-October day. He wasn't
particularly keen on being photographed, but grudgingly sat for one session.
Now that we have a large pond with fairly clear water, we get to enjoy the whole life cycle of dragonflies. My boys found this advanced-stage larva halfway submerged on a rock one day (I'm proud - they were swimming, yet they didn't freak out; instead, they caught the bug for papa!). It's most likely a common green darner (Anax junius). See the little wing stublets on its back? DamselsDamselflies belong to the other suborder, the Zygoptera. Compared to
their dragon cousins, they are more slightly built, and have their eyes well
separated on their heads. Most damselflies hold their wings together when at
rest (but not all, as you can see from the spreadwing further down the page).
While wading chest-deep in our pond one day, busily
scooping out algae, all of a sudden I saw them – a pair of
bright blue damsels. I rushed back inside, leaving a drippy trail
across the kitchen floor, to get my camera. I'd never ventured into the pond
with my pricey digital SLR before, but I really wanted to capture their
mating dance, flitting from lilypad to lilypad, the lady depositing her eggs
under water in each spot. Watching them was more fun than fishing for algae!
This orange-bodied side-eyed beauty was hovering ever so delicately through
the flowers alongside our bog filter in early August. I first thought it was
an orange bluet (Enallagma signatum), but that one has an orange
tailpiece. Which means this is an immature female Eastern forktail (Ischnura verticalis).
Another bluet pond damsel, this is a female, either a marsh bluet (Enallagma ebrium) or Hagen's bluet (Enallagma hageni). She was hovering all around our fading tomato plants in early September.
This damsel took me by surprise – it was a good bit bigger than most of the ones shown above, so at first I thought it was a dragonfly. Turns out this is a slender spreadwing damselfly (Lestes rectangularis): it holds its wings spread out when it rests, instead of together like most of the others.
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Last modified:
October 03, 2009 |
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