S. M. Garver - Wildlife Photos - Dragonfly photos page 1 of 10

Ten pages of dragonfly and damselfly photos including pink (roseate skimmers), yellow (goldenwings), blue (blue dashers), orange (amberwings), green (pondhawks), brown (saddlebags), striped (Halloween pennants), and dotted fliers. They are grouped according to coloring or feature except for the damselflies which are all on the last page.
This first page includes a sampling of many colors and include larger dragonflies eating smaller ones.

- - - - - - - - - - - - -

Two males hanging out at the edge of the stormwater retention pond.
Upper left is a Blue Dasher and the lower right is an Eastern Amberwing.
[At the end of a white colored stick is a blue dragonfly with its wings slightly blurred. On a lower, darker branch is a much smaller brown dragonfly with orange wings.]

This lady is moving quickly as she deposits eggs into the water creating a series of circular depressions as she touches down.
[This dragonfly now about 4 inches above the water's surface has just touched down creating a slight depression in the water which ripples in concentric circles. Her wings are blurred as she hovers.]

A Ruby Meadowhawk dragonfly.
[A dragonfly with a reddish-brown body hangs on the underside of a white branch. It's wings are mostly clear with a reddish tinge on the upper parts of its wings.]

A female Little Blue Dragonlet dragonfly. Her body is approximately 1.25 inches long.
[Side view of a yellow and black bodied dragonfly with clear wings perched on a bent blade of grass on the ground.]

Back view of the same female little blue dragonlet.
[Top down view of the prior dragonfly with the body having a black stripe down the midlle with yellow on either side. The last two segments of the body are black. The appendages are white.]

A Common Green Darner (a blue and green dragonfly) caught a Blue Dasher to eat it. I saw them in a tree branch over my head.
The Blue Dasher's body is perpendicular to the branch while the significantly larger Common Green Darner is parallel to it.
[Side view of the two dragonflies. The Blue Dasher (blue body with black end) sticks straight out of the mouth area of the Common Green Darner. The Darner is holding on to a small tree branch. The Darner is approximately 3 times as large as the Dasher.]

The Common Green Darner is one of the largest dragonflies with a body approximately 3 inches long and an end-to-end wingspan of 6-7 inches.
[Back view of the Common Green Darner eating the Blue Dasher. The top third of its body is green and looks like it has one eye on the top of its head. The rest of the body is light blue and much thinner than the top portion. The clear wings appear huge compared to the body. ]

While the wings of the Blue Dasher are visible in the first photo, I thought this image more clearly illustrates the size difference of the two dragonflies.
[Back side view of the two dragonflies. The Darner's wings are perpendicular to its body while the Dasher's wing's, which are about one third the size of the Darner's, point downward. ]

A male Eastern Pondhawk dragonfly eating a male Eastern Amberwing.
Amberwings are one of the smallest dragonflies with a body at just about an inch long.

A different male Eastern Pondhawk dragonfly eating a female Eastern Amberwing.
She is definitely fighting for her life as she holds her head as far away as possible.
[Side view of the two dragonflies. The pondhawk has its legs around the body of the amberwing as he holds onto a vertical stock of grass. There are light and dark sections on the amberwing's wings which is the indication this was a female. The amberwing's wings are free and her body is arched such that her head is pulled away from the pondhawk's head. It appears he has not yet bit her.]

Continue to page 2 of 10 to see male and female Blue Dasher dragonflies.

Return to top of page.