Normally, I try to have an uncluttered background for my dragonfly shots, but the brilliant green body of this female Eastern Pondhawk (Erythemis simplicicollis) really helps it to stand out (and this was the first pondhawk that I saw this spring).
Most of the dragonflies that I observe at my local marsh are either Blue Dashers or Common Whitetails, so I was really excited when a flash of emerald green caught my eye—the color is distinctive enough that I knew immediately what it was. Without paying too much attention to my surroundings, I moved forward to try to get a better angle on the dragonfly. The next thing I knew, I was ankle-deep in marsh mud, but did manage to get some shots.
I haven’t yet seen any male Eastern Pondhawks, which are mostly blue, but I am keeping my eyes open and hope that it is only a matter of time until I photograph one this spring.
Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved
Mike Powell 
Very beautiful shot, never seen this dragonfly before.Maybe they are not living in Belgium.
Thanks. I think that they are found only in the eastern part of the United States (and maybe part of Canada). I am not sure which dragonflies are in Belgium, though I may check to see, because I am occasionally in Brussels.
Nice shot. That’s a beautiful color!
Beautiful!
Thanks. I really like dragonflies in general, but find this variety to be particularly striking.
Loved the colors on the fly… I have seen tons of these but never in this color 🙂
I think that I saw only a few of these last year and hope to see more this spring and summer.
That powerful green really does make the background disappear! Beautiful shot.
Thanks, Lyle. As you can see, dragonflies are one of my favorite subjects. They are technically challenging, but not impossible to photograph.
Great shot. Quick story, when I came to visit my wife last spring we had something very unusual happen on one of our walks around the city. We had turned a corner (not far from her mother’s home) and started to walk down a hill when I looked over at my wife and on her shoulder was a very large reddish green dragonfly sitting on her blouse right around the point of the collar bone. I’ve never in my entire life seen a dragonfly land on a person. It was a special moment that will forever be in my memory. Have you ever heard or seen or heard of this happening to anyone?
In my experience, dragonflies will perch on almost anything. Last summer, I was out taking photos with a friend who got a dragonfly to perch on his finger.
I haven’t done a lot of wildlife photography, it’s tough enough to do cityscapes and people for me. The few that I have done with wildlife that turned out seemed to be just by luck.
Great color! It really is emerald. You need some good sunlight to bring out the rich color like this.