I'll readily admit that my favorite dragonflies are the big bruisers, more specifically the darners. These monster-dragonflies terrorize all smaller insects, other dragonflies included. Until Friday, I had only positively identified the Common Green Darner, which is, as its name implies, very common.
I took a quick walk up to the neighborhood lake midday on Friday to see if any dragonflies were out and about. I quickly spotted an unfamiliar darner cruising around low over the water's surface. It landed a few times before disappearing, allowing me to snap a couple poor photos. When I arrived home I identified it as a Blue-eyed Darner (Aeshna multicolor.) I was glad to find another species of darner! It is a stunning dragonfly, and my crummy photo cannot do it justice.
The lake was fairly humming with dragonfly on Friday. Nearly invisible forktails weakly fluttered within centimeters of the water, a few Flame Skimmers cruised around, a couple female Green Darners laid eggs in floating vegetation, and several Blue Dashers hawked insects from perches. I was able to improve on my Blue Dasher photos.
Keep an eye open for my report of the trip my dad and I took to the San Jacinto Mountains this past weekend. I'll try to have photos up by next weekend, when I will be leaving with my family for Yosemite.
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