On Friday I spotted this female Blue-tipped Dancer damselfly (Argia tibialis) alongside a creek in Prince William County, Virginia. The fallen leaves provided a nice backdrop for the damselfly and remind me that the days of the summer are numbered.
Some of you undoubtedly noticed that there is no blue tip on this Blue-tipped Dancer. As is often the case for species names for insects (and for birds too), the name applies primarily to the males of the species. There is, however, some variety among female Blue-tipped Dancers, with a blue variant, as seen below, and a brown variant.
© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.
It’s been a hard summer for plants and trees, Mike. We have some lilacs that are totally brown, and leaves in the trees turning yellow. Heat and drought are hard to handle.
I think that is the case here too. I have a crabapple tree in my front yard that has dropped most of its leaves–it seems too early for me to be raking leaves.
This is a lovely little “shemale”, the blue coloring is outstanding! I am all to well aware of the dwindling days of summer, as September brings kindergarten and takes Benjamin along in its embrace. Weekends will be my solace, Autumn’s beauty should help buffer the blow too. Thank-you, Mr. Mike!!
Very nice photograph, Mike. The damsels wear all sorts of costumes to confuse us. (In my case, that isn’t difficult to do!)
Damselflies are tougher for me than dragonflies. So many of the damselflies that I see are blue and black with varying patterns that are only subtly different.