In Pursuit of Damsels!

Damselflies that is! And, of course, their cousins - the Dragonflies - are also included in this passion of mine. For the past 5-6 weeks, I have been derelict in keeping up with this blogging routine. Great summer weather here in Montana is the primary reason for that. These beautiful insects like warmth and sun and we didn't get much of that here until late June. So there have been very few days since then that I have not been out pursuing these "bugs".

In the previous several years that I have been active in this pursuit, I have concentrated on dragonflies, which are larger and more easily identified. But this year, I decided to spend more time catching and photographing damsels. And the rewards of this decision will become obvious when you see their great colors and beauty in the following images.

This Rainbow Bluet is well named, with a great variety of colors. And an Emerald Spreadwing sports sports a front of beautiful green.The Powdered Dancer was first discovered in Montana last summer by Odonate expert and friend Nate Kohler.Sedge Sprites are the tiniest of Montana's damselflies but still quite colorful.American Rubyspots are fairly common on Eastern Montana prairie streams. And that really is a ruby red at the wing base.My favorite species of damsel, and one that I viewed in Montana for the first time this year, are the River Jewelwings. That green iridescence is is really something.If you look closely at the "mouth" area of this one, you can see the remaining parts of a very small Mayfly that it is chowing down on. Please remember that you can click on each photo to enlarge it.

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.