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Project Noah Nature School
Libellula pulchella
About 2-1/2 inches long.
On the edge of a field bordering woods near a pond.
Not all dragonflies exhibit sexual dimorphism like Twelve-spotted Skimmers. One way to tell males from females is to look at their terminal appendages. For more information related to terminal appendages, refer to the following post about Eastern Pondhawk dragonflies. TAs vary slightly from one species to another, but some characteristics are common to all dragonflies. http://waltersanford.wordpress.com/2013/...
It is a male as indicated by its coloration and terminal appendages. Females look very different! Here's a good example of a female: http://www.projectnoah.org/spottings/986...
First off: what features indicate that this is a male? Secondly: thanks for the camera suggestion and link. $400 might be out of my price range but I'm sure I'll find something better than my phone that's within my budget.
This individual is a male. The new Panasonic Lumix DMC-FZ70 features a 60x zoom (that's right, 60x!), shoots RAW, and is only $399. I own its predecessor, two generations removed. I'm VERY HAPPY with my DMC-FZ150. Image quality is superb. http://waltersanford.wordpress.com/
Thank you very much Jacob. Your help is greatly appreciated. You are a gentleman and a scholar. It's so darn tough to get a good image of dragonflies with my phone. I gotta get myself a decent camera
Spotted on Aug 17, 2013
Submitted on Aug 29, 2013
+1
