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| Ebony Jewelwing at Connetquot River State Park |
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| Female Ebony Jewelwing |
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| Common Whitetail Dragonfly |
Since summer is a boom time for insects, I feel the need to
mention them. However, I won’t discuss those real pesky ones such as mosquitoes
and ticks, which seem overly abundant this year. Instead I will focus on two
pleasant species to encounter when walking in Connetquot. These are damselflies and dragonflies. Although
they are similar in appearance, they can be easily distinguished by examining
their wings when they are perched. Damselflies hold their wings up vertically
over their bodies, while dragonflies hold their wings out horizontally, like an
open book.
The damselflies I photographed are Ebony Jewelwings. They
are easily identifiable by their lovely coloring which is a unique combination
of metallic green and iridescent teal. I often come across swarms of them in July,
perched on leaves in the Deep Pond area of Connetquot River State Park. The one
pictured above is a female, recognizable by the white spot on each wing. Males lack the white markings.
As for the Dragonfly pictured above, this is a Common
Whitetail, and I often see them, as I did this one, on the green trail in the
Connetquot River State Park. The sex of these dragonflies can be determined by
wing pattern and tail color. Adult males have white tails; females have brown
ones. The one I photographed was a female.
There is one thing I have learned about damselflies and
dragonflies through my photographing them. When you find one perched and it
becomes startled and flies away, just wait, because it will almost certainly
return to that same perch — an interesting habit of these fascinating little
creatures.
