northeast-flora-and-fauna

Here's a pair of Eastern Amberwing butterflies, 1 male and (maybe) 1 female. The male is an easy identification; size, shape, and those translucent amber wings are present in no other local dragonfly. The 2nd picture is a bit harder to ID, looking only vaguely like the females in this picture or this picture . This could be because this is a relatively rare andromorph female; unfortunately andromorph females probably look quite a bit like juvenile males: I think a juvenile male would look like a paler, drabber version of a male, without any spots other than red stigmas on their wings. I think I see faint hints of the dark patches that most females have. Based on the picture alone, I'd lean towards this being an andromorph female. But Eastern Amberwing andromorph females are supposed to be very rare, while pretty much every vibrant male was once a drab juvenile male, so I suspect that a juvenile male is the stronger ID. June 20, 2023 at Washington Valley Reservoir Photo 30111...

Though some of the larger damselflies (like the Ebony Jewelwing ) are easy to spot by anyone paying attention, I'll frequently see some smaller ones like this Eastern Forktail . Unfortunately the small size of most forktails makes it easy to lose sight of them, especially when they're not moving. They get the forktail name because for most of these species the males have a slightly forked tip at the end of their abdomens but given their small size this characteristic probably won't be easily spotted if you run across one. This is a heteromorphic female forktail, which my field guide [1] defines as a "dull morph in female odonates with 2 color morphs". Some other Eastern Forktails are considered andromorphic, defined as "bright (usually male-like) morph in female odonates with 2 color morphs". These terms are apparently only used when females have 2 different morphs; if a species has no colorful morph in the females they aren't all called heteromorp...