Well, ladies and gentlemen, brothers and sisters, friends and comrades, this is the last RWP installment I have. If you want it to continue, send in your photos. Otherwise it will become sporadic, which wouldn’t be a disaster, but it’s been going for years.
Today is Sunday, and so we have John Avise‘s photos of dragonflies from North America. John’s captions are indented, and you can enlarge his photos by clicking on them.
Dragonflies in North America, Part 5
This week I continue a series of posts on Dragonflies and Damselflies (taxonomic Order Odonata) that I’ve photographed in North America. I’m going down my list of species in alphabetical order by common name. Also shown is the state where I took each photo.
Spangled Skimmer, Libelulla cyanea, male (Georgia):
Spangled Skimmer, famale (Georgia):
Spot-winged Glider, Pantala hymenaea, male (California):
Spot-winged Glider, female (California):
Turquoise-tipped Darner, Rhionaeschna psilus, male (California) (This specimen was a first-time state record for this species, which seems to be expanding its range in the Southwestern United States):
Twelve-spotted Skimmer, Libellula pulchella, male (Michigan):
Twelve-spotted Skimmer, female (Michigan):
Variegated Meadowhawk, Sympetrum corruptum, male (California):
Variegated Meadowhawk, female (California):
Favorite : Turquoise-tipped Darner, Rhionaeschna psilus
Maybe a tie with last Meadowhawk…
Are the distinctions Darner / Skimmer / Glider / Meadowhawk behavioral or anatomical?
And as to the problem, call Steven Barnard.
RWP is one of my favorite things about WEIT. I’d love to contribute, but among the many things I cannot do well is take photos. I do hope other readers who have the skills will help keep RWP going.
Thanks
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Beautiful photographs. I remember the Twelve-spotted Skimmer as a common dragonfly of my youth. I was a bit afraid of them, but I don’t know why exactly. I was probably afraid of a potential bite, but it might have just been fear of the unknown—not knowing if it could bite. It’s incredible fast flight also led me to think that there was something scary about this denizen of the pond.
I enjoyed that! Many of these are on my wish list to see for myself.
Spangled Skimmer, Libelulla cyanea, male and it’s shadow… nice.
Top notch pics there, thank you again John. If you were in the army you’d be a top notch sniper! 🙂
I love dragonflies. I almost never saw one in Australia/NZ growing up there but in Japan there are lots and when I moved there I noticed they REALLY like them – bigger part of culture than dragonflies are anywhere else. “Tombu” and they’re in lots of art.
Wish we had some in Manhattan!
D.A.
NYC
These are magnificent as always. You must have an impressive Odonate life list, having shown us dozens of species!
Indeed, beautiful photos. While we admire the wings of these insects it is the way they cling to twigs that interests me. Back in the 60s our rowing crew at uni, spent many training hours on a river. Our coach on the return journey against the current would tie his boat to an over hanging willow to have a smoke. While he thus indulged he would put us on a regime of ‘single strokes’, where effectively the boat remained stationary, on balance, blades off the water between strokes. It was then the damsels would settle on our noses, but we were not allowed to swipe them aside for fear of tipping the boat! The torture of damsel fly claws on one’s nose is exquisite, a memory these delicious photos bring back with some force!
These are great photos of fascinating subjects. Thank you!