Eight-spotted Skimmer, Fernhill Wetlands, Forest Grove, Oregon on 5 August 2010 by Greg Gillson.Yesterday the birding was rather slow, but I noticed several dragonflies. I should have a macro lens for close-ups, but since I don't, I stood with my 100-400 mm telephoto lens back about 7 feet from the insects.
Everything I know about dragonflies I learned 30 minutes ago from local fellow birder and blogger Stefan Schlick in a recent post to his Birdmeister blog.
The odonates of Emma Jones Natural Preserve in Hillsboro, OR (08/04/10, part1)
The odonates of Emma Jones Natural Preserve in Hillsboro, OR (08/04/10, part2)
I knew, or thought I knew, that the fat-bodied ones were dragonflies, and the thin-bodied ones were damselflies. Beyond that I knew nothing about these "bugs," except that some birders also liked identifying these and butterflies, as well as birds.
Photographing them yesterday I didn't know if the different-colored flies were males and females (seems they probably were) or whether I needed more than the abdomen color and wing pattern (probably do).
So, even though Stefan calls himself "quite a rookie" I used his photos and ID's of local dragonflies as the basis for my identifications.
So, here goes. The beautiful creature pictured above is likely Eight-spotted Skimmer.
Next are the two damselflies, probably a blue male and green female (or do I have this backwards?). Stefan's photo of a mating pair has me confused about dragonfly anatomy... (hey, no rude comments there!). Tule Bluet? Is that some kind of inside bug joke?
OK, on to the big blue and green dragonflies. Again, the blue is male and female green? These, I guess, are Western Pondhawks?
I found a nice website of dragonfly photos at Greg Lasely's Dragonflies and Damselflies.