Dragonflies and Damselflies

Hello everyone

Over the last few years, I’ve mostly taken macro shots with an Olympus – it’s lighter to carry – but I still have lots of photos taken with a Canon on my hard drive.
A newly hatched Emperor dragonfly.

Best regards

Helmut

Anax imperator by Helmut Gloor, auf Flickr
The translucency is interesting.
 
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This year seems to become a very good D&D year.
Another "first time ever" for me:
A large white-faced darter or yellow-spotted whiteface (Leucorrhinia pectoralis).
This species is listed "endangered (2)" in the "Red List" for Bavaria (Germany: "vulnerable (3)").
A friend of mine received information that this species was spotted years ago at a restored former fish farm pond.
We were able to confirm this sighting and were very pleased to find a relatively large population there.
More photos in a future post, as soon as I've edited them.

R6m2+100-500+2x@1000mm+cropping

whiteface_l_2026_04.JPGwhiteface_l_2026_05.JPG
whiteface_l_2026_03.JPG
 
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First ruddy darter (Sympetrum sanguineum) of the season, freshly hatched (see colour and the milky sheen on the wings).
I would have expected them by begin of July, but it's really hot here (36°C) and this is typically the earliest appearance.

R6m2+100-500+2x@1000mm+ almost no cropping
darter_rud_2026_01.JPG
 
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Damselflies, Insect, marsh bluet (Enallagma ebrium)
Nice catches. Do I remember right that you are located in Northern America?

With my European POV and the Netherlands based App it is funny to look at its results:

The last one looks pretty much like a small whiteface (Leucorrhinia dubia).
But as you are not located in Europe it should be another member of Leucorrhinia, I'd guess a dot-tailed whiteface (L. intacta).
As you could read above, I was looking for European whitefaces lately and reading though the taxonomy.
The white face and the small yellow spot at the abdomen should be typical for L. dubia. ObsID gives it less than 50%. :ROFLMAO:

For the first and second one ObsID thinks 87 and 100% that it is a common bluet (Enallagma cyathigerum). :ROFLMAO:
Comparing E. ebrium with E. cyathigerum I can understand the confusion of ObsID. Pretty close.
 
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Nice catches. Do I remember right that you are located in Northern America?

With my European POV and the Netherlands based App it is funny to look at its results:

The last one looks pretty much like a small whiteface (Leucorrhinia dubia).
But as you are not located in Europe it should be another member of Leucorrhinia, I'd guess a dot-tailed whiteface (L. intacta).
As you could read above, I was looking for European whitefaces lately and reading though the taxonomy.
The white face and the small yellow spot at the abdomen should be typical for L. dubia. ObsID gives it less than 50%. :ROFLMAO:

For the first and second one ObsID thinks 87 and 100% that it is a common bluet (Enallagma cyathigerum). :ROFLMAO:
Comparing E. ebrium with E. cyathigerum I can understand the confusion of ObsID. Pretty close.
I am located in Maine USA. I have no idea how to UD these so I use iNaturalist app.
 
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