Last Friday I photographed my first dragonflies of the spring, a male Common Green Darner (Anax junius) and a female Ashy Clubtail (Phanogomphus lividus). The Common Green Darner is probably a migratory dragonfly that is just passing through as it heads north—we do have local-born members of this species, but it is too early for them to have emerged.
The Ashy Clubtail, which was actually the first dragonfly that I photographed, almost certainly emerged locally. When a dragonfly emerges, its wings are really shiny and the wings of this Ashy Clubtail were definitely sparkling in the sunlight. According to the local flight calendar, the Ashy Clubtail is one of the earliest dragonflies in our area to emerge, but I have never seen one this early before.
As you can see, I captured the images of both of these dragonflies when they were perched flat on the ground. There were dry leaves all around, which made a stealthy approach almost impossible and focusing on the dragonfly was a bit of a challenge.
© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.
Mike Powell 
Beautiful sharp shots, Mike. The blue one is so beautiful.
Thanks, Pete. A couple of years ago on a trip to Brussels, I captured some shots of the Common Green Darner’s equally beautiful European cousin, the Emperor Dragonfly (Anax imperator). Here’s a link to that posting in case you have not seen it. https://michaelqpowell.com/2018/06/06/emperor-dragonfly-in-brussels/
In spite of your calm description of your find, I suspect that you must be quite elated to be finding the first examples of your main passion. I wish you a great, prosperous, and healthy dragon & damsel season!
Thanks, Gary. It was in fact pretty exciting to find the first ones of the season. I am staying close to home for the most part, but managed to make a foray out to one of the most remote locations that I know for these ones. Parking is not permitted in the park, so it was almost a two hour hike on rather hilly trails to get to my desired spot. Getting there was not too bad, but the return trip was a little brutal.
Wow, now that’s dedication–and you were aptly rewarded for your adventuresome perseverance, and you certainly got some great exercise in the process. I’d call that a definite win-win!
I think it helps to be a little crazy when it comes to nature photography. We can go out for hours on end, never knowing for sure if we will find something worth photographing. Some of us will get up early, others will stay late–it is always an adventure.
About a month to wait over here, if we are allowed to go out and see them that is.
These are some really early dragonflies that I was happy to snag. We are still allowed some outdoor activity as long as we follow the rules of social distancing. I am severely limiting the number of trips that I make out of my home and am doing my best to avoid any contact at all with others, which is not too tough given my natural predispositions.
Nice Mike! Can not wait for them to show up here! Should be soon!
Thanks, Reed. You just might have some Common Green Darners coming through already, but it shouldn’t be long before some of the locals emerge too. I think that folks here in Virginia started finding dragonflies the last week in March.
Nice, Mike, and glad the dragonflies have come out for you. You made me laugh with the inability to be stealthy with the dry leaves, skulking brought down by the simplest thing — been there 🙂 !
Now it’s officially spring!
As you may recall, Dragonflies are at the top of the list of Benjamin’s favorite insects. I will forward this post for his enjoyment and education. I will miss sharing his close inspection of the enlarged photos and his commentary on the details. However, I am happy just knowing that he will not miss the first photos of the season by you. Thank-you, Mr. Mike!
Thanks, Ellen. I will have another dragonfly posting soon with an even better dragonfly featured. 🙂 Thanks for the reminder about dragonflies and Benjamin–despite the huge difference in ages, he and I have a similar love for details, possess unbounded curiosity, and love to learn new things.
You must be so happy – I know how much you love these intrepid fliers. 🙂
I was ecstatic when I saw the first dragonflies. I won’t be going out anywhere near as often this year to search for these beautiful little creatures and many of my favorite spots are closed, but I am happy that I am still managing to get out a little.
[…] that I spotted the Ashy Clubtail and Common Green Darner that I featured recently in my posting First dragonflies of the season. I looked for Uhler’s Sundragons there but came up […]
[…] spring on the 3rd of April, the earliest I have ever seen dragonflies—see my 6 April 2020 posting First dragonflies of the season. I will probably go out and search for them in earnest during the final week of March. There are a […]