Damsels and Dragons

Ebony Jewelwing at Connetquot River State Park

Female Ebony Jewelwing

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.