Eastern Amberwing

The eastern amberwing is the second smallest dragonfly in North America. I photographed this male on the vegetation mats at Purgatory Creek.

Eastern Amberwing

One of the smaller dragonflies that we see around here are the eastern amberwing. At about .9 inches the only dragonfly smaller is the elfin skimmer, which reach about .8 inches. They are sometimes mistaken for Halloween pennants, because of their color, but their much smaller size, Halloween pennants are about 1.5 inches, is a dead give away.They are members of the skimmer family and like many other skimmers their colorful wings help to identify them as skimmers. Their preferred habitat is still stagnant waters, such as ponds and backwaters, in the eastern half of the United States and southeastern Canada. I frequently see them perched on rafts of floating vegetation.

Eastern Amberwing

The eastern amberwing is one of the smallest dragonflies found in North America. At an average size of around .9 inches only the elfin skimmer, which averages .8 inches, is smaller. They are usually found around still water with plenty of surface vegetation such as ponds or backwaters. In this case I photographed this amberwing in the backwaters of Purgatory Creek. Eastern amberwings are usually difficult to photograph because they seem more wary then other dragons. This may be because their small size makes them a target for other predators, including the larger dragons.

Dragonflies Purgatory Creek

Up here in Minnesota the realities of winter are starting to sink in. The light covering of snow that we got this past weekend looks like it is going to stay and unfortunately there is surely a lot more on the way. I stopped by Lake Vadnais yesterday to photograph migrating waterfowl and found that they had already closed the road for the winter. I decided to park and walk in but I found most of the water near the shore was already ice and the only open water was near the middle of the lake so the birds were to far away to get any decent pics. So since I kind of have a case of the beginning of winter blues I decided to post some summer dragon pics to cheer up myself and anyone else who is already sick of snow, cold, and grey skies.
All of these pics where taken at Purgatory Creek Back on July 23rd. It is kind of fun to look at these pics and remember sweating out in the wetlands, back in July, when the high temps this week are in the 30s if we are lucky.The first three pics are of eastern pondhawks. Eastern pondhawks begin life bright green in color. Females stay this green color but as the males mature pruinosity covers the abdomen and and thorax and gives it the powdery blue color.
Another dragon that is very similar looking to the eastern pondhawk is the blue dasher. They also get a powdering blue color as they mature due to pruinosity but the pruinose on the blue dasher does not cover the thorax like it does on the eastern pondhawk.
Blue dashers typically hunt from a favorite perch. Both males and females will defend their preferred feeding perches leaving the perch only to catch prey or fend of a rival.

The eastern amberwing is one of the smallest dragonfly in our area. Since they are usually less then an inch long, the elfin skimmer is the smallest dragon in North America at .8 inches, they are often easier prey then other dragons. To help keep themselves from becoming prey they will often mimic wasps, which they resemble in size and color.

The Rest of the Dragons at the Bass Ponds

There were also a few other types of dragonfly that I photographed on my trip to the Bass Ponds back in July.
The twelve spotted skimmer is one of the most common dragons around. It is easily recognized, by the spots on the wings, and usually perches in the open making them easy to photograph. An added bonus is that if they flush when approached they will typically land back on the same perch or one near by.
The common whitetail male is also pretty hard to mistake. The wing pattern along with the white pruinose abdomen make them recognizable from a pretty good distance away. The female common whitetail looks a lot like a female twelve-spotted skimmer.

Another common pond dragon that is a member of the skimmer family is the widow skimmer.
Widow skimmers are identified by the black and the white pruinose bands on their wings. The female widow skimmer only has the black band and does not get pruinose on the wings or abdomen.
One dragon that was not as common as the rest, that I was able to photograph that day, is the eastern amberwing. These small dragons are usually less then an inch long and prefer still or slow moving water.
This was a male eastern amberwing, you can tell because the wings are completely colored. The female amberwing has a wing pattern that is similar to the Halloween pennant, although they are quite a bit smaller.
The final dragon that I photographed was the four-spotted skimmer. This type of dragon can be found all over the globe including North America, Europe, North Africa and Asia.

Colorful Dragons at the Bass Ponds

There are many people around the world who enjoy birdwatching. They find birds fascinating and usually use words like colorful and beautiful when asked to describe what they enjoy about birds. Many people also enjoy butterflies and use the same words to describe them, but it is rare that you hear dragonflies described in these terms.
The truth is that there are dragons that can rival many butterflies for their color and beauty. I found two different examples of extremely colorful dragons when I visited the Bass Ponds Back in June.
The first three photos are examples of the Halloween pennant. Pennants are a type of dragonfly that tend to hang vertically of off the top of a stick, reed, or weed with their wings angled, so that they resemble a pennant on the top of a stick. The Halloween pennant is named such because of its autumn color scheme and it is the most common pennant in North America.
Unlike many other types of dragons, Halloween pennants do not seem to mind the weather so much. They can often be seen flying on windy days, during cooler temps or even during light rain or drizzle, when other dragons are under cover.
This next dragon looks similar but it is actually a very different type. The eastern amberwing has similar color as the Halloween pennant but it is easy to tell the difference, since the amberwing does not perch like a pennant.
The eastern amberwing is also smaller in size, then the Halloween pennant and usually much more wary. Usually they tend to only perch over water, for safety, but I got lucky to find this one perched on a bloom. I was also lucky that it stayed there while I took a few shots.