northeast-flora-and-fauna

Here's a Common Green Darner I met last autumn. Though this is considered to be one of the most common/abundant dragonflies in NJ and the rest of North America, I've rarely gotten pictures of them. (This suggests I should probably be expanding the locations I tend to visit. Different places can have different fauna. FWIW the only other kind of darner I've photographed was a Fawn Darner .) You should be able to see a small black dot on the front of the face that's almost completely surrounded by a blue circle. This is considered a good field mark for IDing the Common Green Darner. It looks like the sides of this dragonfly are turning bluish; I believe that means this is a nearly mature male. October 20, 2022 at Duke Farms Photo 250355089, (c) jpviolette, some rights reserved (CC BY-NC)

Here's a dragonfly I don't see very often, the Fawn Darner . In fact, while I see skimmer dragonflies (which includes pondhawks and meadowhawks in addition to ones with skimmer in the name), this guy and this Common Green Darner are the only darners I've managed to photograph. Notice the spots on the side of this darner; the Fawn Darner is one of only 2 spotted darners in my area, and they are also the only 2 in all of North America. The Ocellated Darner is the other one; it's spots are a little more ragged looking compared to the relatively smooth spots on the Fawn Darner. Darners are physically large, at least as far as odonates go. July 22, 2021 at Fairview Farm Photo 148400870, (c) jpviolette, some rights reserved (CC BY-NC)