Wednesday, September 9, 2020

Dragonflies in the Neighbourhood

 I have been astonished by the variety of dragonfly species inhabiting a fairly small tract of land here in St-Laurent, Quebec.  I present them here with their common and scientific names:



Female or immature male Dot-tailed Whiteface, leucorrhinia intacta


Belted Whiteface, leucorrhinia proxima


Immature male Twelve-spotted Skimmer, libellula pulchella


Female Twelve-spotted Skimmer, libellula pulchella

Male Twelve-spotted Skimmer, libellula pulchella


Immature male Common Whitetail, plathemis lydia


Male Common Whitetail, plathemis lydia


Four-spotted Skimmer, libellula quadrimaculata


White-faced Meadowhawk, sympetrum obtrusum


Immature male or adult female Widow Skimmer, libellula luctuosa


Lance-tipped Darner, aeshna constricta


Canada Darner, aeshna canadensis - mating


Wandering Glider, pantala flavescens


Wandering Glider, pantala flavescens


Male Elusive Clubtail, stylurus notatus


Female Elusive Clubtail, stylurus notatus


Spot-winged Glider, pantala hymenaea


Ruby Meadowhawk, sympetrum rubicundulum


Immature Common Green Darner, anax junius


Female Swift River Cruiser, macromia illinoiensis


Male Swift River Cruiser, macromia illinoiensis


This last dragonfly inspired me to write the following verse:

EMERALD EYES

With emerald eyes
they scan the skies
And as they rise
I realize
with no surprise
what this implies - 
they're dragonflies!