Some Dragonflies & Damselflies of Green-Wood Cemetery

Until the southbound bird migration begins to pick up steam, I've been looking at dragonflies and damselflies, lately. Below are some of my photos from Green-Wood Cemetery. If you are interested in learning more here's a link to a great website on the subject. Also, you can view and download a Checklist of North American Odonata here. As with my butterflies posting, I will update it over time as I observe and photograph more species. FYI - A really good field guide is Dragonflies through Binoculars: A Field Guide to Dragonflies of North America by Sidney W. Dunkle:

The bluets are a group of really tiny damselflies. Identification can sometimes be tricky. So far, I'm pretty certain that this brilliant blue damselfly is a Familiar Bluet (Enallagma civile). They are fairly common around the Sylvan Water.

I took this photo of the large Common Green Darner (Anax junius) several years ago, so forgive the not so great quality. This widespread, common species is migratory.

Like all the other species in the "pennant" family, the Calico Pennant (Celithemis elisa) will perch on a single vertical piece of vegetation and wave in the wind like a pennant. Look for them around the edges of the ponds in Green-Wood.

The Halloween Pennant (Celithemis eponina) is one of my favorite dragonflies in Green-Wood Cemetery. Also found around the edges of the ponds, their striking color and pattern is unmistakable.

Let's see...three black spots per wing, four wings. Yup, twelve spots on this Twelve-spotted Skimmer (Libellula pulchella). Find them zipping around above the water at any of the ponds.

Here is both the female and male Blue Dasher (Pachydiplax longipennis). This species of LIBELLULIDAE dragonfly is common around the cemetery. They are mostly found near the ponds, but I've also seen them far from permanent bodies of water, usually by puddles after a rainstorm.

The Spot-winged Glider (Pantala hymenaea) is fairly new to me at Green-Wood Cemetery. Another migratory species, apparently not a lot is known about their movements.

The Eastern Amberwing (Perithemis tenera), our smallest dragonfly, is extremely common around all the ponds in Green-Wood Cemetery. I've also been seeing them at wild bergamot patches, quite a distance from any water.

White tail: check. Virtually everywhere: check. Must be the Common Whitetail (Plathemis lydia).

I've labelled this file as Red Saddlebags, but calling it Carolina Saddlebags (Tramea carolina) here. Honestly, not skilled enough yet to tell them apart. This piece describes the differences.