Dragons & Damsels

Our cool Montana weather during most of May and June seems to have put a bit of a damper on my pursuit of Odonates - Dragonflies and Damselflies. But the warmer weather in the past several days has found me out in some favorites locations swatting mosquitoes and searching for these fascinating insects. While the variety of species to be found is a bit slim this early in the season, there are some good, colorful "bugs" to be found. I am going to just post some of the better images I have managed to obtain over the past week or so with very little dialogue. Enjoy!

You can't get much bluer than the eyes on this Blue-eyed Darner! Vivid Dancers are both vivid in color and sort of dance when they fly. Flame skimmers are one of my favorites and they are pretty easy to approach on their selected perches. California darners are among the earliest of the darner group to appear each spring. As are these very small and delicate Pacific Forktails. Not too much color on these Dot-tailed Whitefaces, but it is easy to see how they got their name! Four-spotted Skimmers are found throughout the northern hemisphere, and are usually quite common.