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Project Noah Nature School
Epiaeschna
This one was spotted in the Poconos, Pennsylvania mid-July. They're much bigger than what I'm used to in northern Europe.
Copyright © 2012 Bart Van Damme. All rights reserved.
Spotted on Jul 21, 2012
Submitted on Aug 22, 2012
4 Comments
Hey Walter, that's ok. I rather be challenged, it's a much better way to learn something new and actually remember it.
This one was just sitting there for quite some time, so fortunately I had some time to try different perspectives. Dragonflies over here are much, much smaller, and as you say, they rarely perch (I've made plenty of "where did it go?" empty pictures in the past ;-) )
Swamp Darner is my best guess too. I didn't realize you are from Europe, otherwise I would have simply told you the identity of the dragonfly without challenging you to identify it using the clue I provided -- good detective work on your part! Swamp Darners are BIG (probably the biggest species of dragonfly at the location where you spotted it), perch rarely, and prefer to perch in shade (which makes them challenging to photograph) -- great catch, Bart!
Hmmm... looks like it might be a swamp darner (Epiaeschna), right? I had never seen one before, they don't get that big where I live. :)
I'll give you a clue -- let's see whether you can run with it! This is a type of Darner dragonfly.