Black-kneed Duskhawker

Description:

Gynacantha bullata is a species of dragonfly in family Aeshnidae. It is found in Burundi, Cameroon, Central African Republic, the Republic of the Congo, Ivory Coast, Equatorial Guinea, Gabon, Ghana, Guinea, Kenya, Liberia, Malawi, Nigeria, Sierra Leone, Tanzania, Togo, and Uganda.

Habitat:

Its natural habitats are subtropical or tropical moist lowland forests and shrub-dominated wetlands. The Black-kneed Duskhawker (Gynacantha bullata) is a very widespread species, however deforestation is a threat in parts of its range and the impacts of this needs to be monitored. At present, it is not thought that this will cause the global population to decline at a sufficient rate to qualify or nearly qualify the species for a threatened category under criterion A; therefore it is assessed as Least Concern.

Notes:

It buzzed off few seconds after being hit by the sharp burst of flash, like one awoken from a very deep slumber. They're impressively large dragonflies, in fact the largest I've seen. They occasionally enter buildings in search of a cool dark place to lodge and often skim the walls as they go. I'm guessing that there's very little chance of getting a shot of this in the wild because they're powerful fliers.