Sunday, February 5, 2012

Canada Darner

The darner family of dragonflies can be identified by their large eyes which come together in a long line at the top. Many other types of dragonflies eyes meet only at a single point. Their huge eyes give them the appearance that they are wearing a helmet. Darners are large dragonflies and they are very strong flyers.
These are Canada darners. They are part of a group of darners that are often refereed to as blue or mosaic darners. To distinguish one mosaic darner from another you often have to look at the shapes of the side stripes. In this case the small notch in the middle of the front side stripe as well as the small backward flag at the top of the front side stripe are the field markings that identify these as Canada darners. The pair in the photo below are in the process of mating. All dragonflies mate using this wheel type of position.

10 comments:

Teresa said...

I can hardly wait for the weather to get nice and have dragonflies back here again. Your pictures are always amazing.

genie said...

My, would I love seeing one of these. They are absolutely beautiful...so unusual in their coloration.It was so interesting reading the info you shared with us. Awes0me post. genie

Janis said...

Awsome shots!

Jama said...

These photos are stunning!

Lea's Menagerie said...

Great macros of dragonflies!
Amazingly brilliant colors!
Happy Macro Monday!
Lea
Lea's Menagerie

Jane said...

Awesome shots, love their colour:)

Molly said...

Amazing shots, especially of the 2 of the together.

Mollyxxx

Herding Cats said...

Wow! Wonderful close ups!

Tatjana Parkacheva said...

Excellent and beautiful macro photographs.

Regards and best wishes

Kala said...

Awesome details!

Happy MM