The Blue Dasher is one of the most abundant dragonflies in North America. The male has a chalky blue abdomen due to pruinosity, which is a powdery surface coating, and a white face with beautiful aqua eyes. Both sexes have a yellow striped thorax. The female's abdomen is also yellow and black striped and she has reddish eyes. They are often seen perched with their bodies upright.
male Blue Dasher in photo to left
Calico Pennants are easy to identify. Both sexes have heart shapes on their abdomen, a dark spot on the wing end and middle plus brightly colored stigmas (the small rectangular area on top of the wings near the outer edge) and "saddlebags" are prominent. The big difference is that males are reddish orange and females are yellow. Their wing veins are also beautifully colored!
The Eastern Pondhawks are aggressive predators, like their avian namesake. The females are a shockingly beautiful lime green and the males are a powdery blue.
The Halloween Pennants are frequent visitors to the pond plants at the edge of my yard. Every time I see one I am stunned by their beauty. They are my favorite dragonfly to photograph. Like the Calico Pennants, the males are red/orange and the females are yellow, and both sexes have dark bands on the wings. The stigma (small rectangle on tops of wings to outer edge) on the male is orange and a brilliant white on the female.
Needham's Skimmers are very pretty dragonflies with some unique physical features. Both sexes have black stripes on top of their abdomens and the female has a pale stripe on top of her thorax. The top edges of the wings are colored (males are orange and females are yellow).The males have bright red faces. The females have brown faces. (female in photo to left)
The Great Blue Skimmer is an infrequent visitor to my yard and I have not seen a female yet, but the males are a very pretty blue. Their wings are clear with smoky colored tips, a black stigma and black dot at the middle top edge of the wing. They seem to stay still longer than some of the other dragonflies so getting a good photo is somewhat easy.
Common Whitetail Skimmer, male
Whenever I catch sight (which has been rare) of a black and white dragonfly, I am always startled in a good way. They seem so other- worldly amid the colors of the plants and flowers. The dragonflies in these photos are male. The females have brown bodies and I hope to see one next summer.
