Yesterday I spotted a very cool-looking, but unfamiliar dragonfly. I ended up posting an image in several Facebook groups in an effort to get an identification from some of the experts and was a little shocked to learn that it is a male Swift Setwing dragonfly (Dythemis velox), a primarily southern species that may never before have been spotted in Fairfax County, the county where I live.
It looks like this species is spreading northward. According to a posting on an Ohio natural history blog, this dragonfly species was spotted for the first time in Ohio in 2014 and a photo was posted today of a teneral female Swift Setwing in Champaign County, Ohio.
Why are these dragonflies called “setwings?” According to the blog posting cited above, setwings “spend a lot of time perched, typically on the tip of branches and frequently with their wings angled down and forward and their abdomen slightly raised…(the) English name of “setwings” (came) from this posture, which reminded them of a sprinter at a track meet on the blocks in the “ready, set, go” position.”
© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.
Mike Powell 
Great photos, Mike!
Awesome Mike
Congratulations, Mike! I’ll say it again: Submit the record to the Dragonfly Society of the Americas Odonata Central database. Don’t wait ’til someone steals your thunder!
I submitted the record early this morning.
Nice find. Interesting descriptiono of it’s name – origin. M 🙂
At least this name seems to make sense. Sometimes I scratch my head in bewilderment when I heat the name of a bird or an insect and wonder what the originator was thinking (or smoking) when they chose a name.
Yeah, looks like he’s about to run the hundred yard dash!
Very cool, great eye and pics, 🙂
Thanks, Ed. I love to photograph dragonflies and this was a particularly neat found, since it was a species I hadn’t expected to see.
That is an odd wing position. I doubt that I’ll see one here but at least I know what to look for.
[…] you would like to see some photos of my initial sighting, check out my blog posting from June 25. The range of this dragonfly seems to be moving northward and it seems likely that […]
[…] record of Swift Setwing in Fairfax County, Virginia USA. For more information, see Swift Setwing dragonfly by Michael Powell and Making new friends by Walter […]
[…] Five years ago I spotted my first Swift Setwing dragonfly at this same location and it turned out that this primarily southern species that had never before have been documented in Fairfax County, Virginia, the county where I live. (You can see details of that first sighting in my 25 June 2016 posting Swift Setwing dragonfly.) […]
[…] Six years ago I spotted my first Swift Setwing dragonfly at this same location. This primarily southern species had never before have been documented in Fairfax County, Virginia, the county where I live, so it is kind of special for me to see them each year. (You can see details of that first sighting in my 25 June 2016 posting Swift Setwing dragonfly.) […]