Eastern Amberwings (Perithemis tenera) are the smallest dragonflies in our area. You can often find males buzzing around at the water’s edge, but females are harder to spot because they hang out in vegetation away from the water. I was thrilled therefore to see a beautiful female this past Friday at Occoquan Bay National Wildlife Refuge in some beautiful morning sunlight.
I decided to give a male Eastern Amberwing dragonfly equal billing in this post, because I really like the way that the shadows and the reflections make it look like he has an elongated body and extra sets of wings.
© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.
Mike Powell 
I’m glad you added the bit about the reflections. I was going to ask about those wings.
Benjamin is enchanted by both photos. He says : “Mrs. Amberwing has pretty wings and big eyes. Mr. Amberwing has bigger pretty yellow wings and a big shadow.” We decided that we like Mrs. the most! Thank-you, Mr. Mike!!
That is super–I too love the Mrs. the most, in part because it is rarer for me to see a female than the male and in part because I love the patterned wings that she has.