Pair of Male Dragonflies

These were pretty good pictures of a couple of our more common dragonflies. (I've talked about these dragonflies plenty of times before, but who doesn't appreciate a photogenic dragonfly?)

Although both are males with much of the field marks of mature males, there's at least an inkling that they're slightly immature. If they're not mature enough to be out competing for the attention of lady dragonflies, they're really close.

The 1st is a Widow Skimmer with wings that are black near the base, followed by a contrasting vivid white, then going clear (albeit with some veins) the rest of the way out on the wings. What I don't see though is white pruinose on the abdomen like you can see in the mature male in this picture.


June 17, 2023 at Duke Farms
Photo 301010507, (c) jpviolette, some rights reserved (CC BY-NC)

Next is an Eastern Pondhawk. Similar to the Widow Skimmer, you can tell the immature males from the mature ones based on pruinose, though in the case of Eastern Pondhawks you need to look for blue pruinose rather than white. When younger than this, male Eastern Pondhawks look (at least to us humans) very similar to females. Though most of my pictures of Eastern Pondhawk males show slight green on the abdomen, this individual is greener than I'd expect him to be when he's older.
June 17, 2023 at Duke Farms
Photo 301010630, (c) jpviolette, some rights reserved (CC BY-NC)



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