What is the most common dragonfly where you live? Over the last few weeks I have noticed more and more dragonflies at the ponds and marshes that I visit, an indication that many of the summer dragonfly species have emerged. Here in Northern Virginia, the most common dragonfly is probably the appropriately named Common Whitetail dragonfly (Plathemis lydia). This species is one of the first to appear in the spring and one of the last to disappear in the fall. They are easy to identify and are such habitat generalists that they can be found almost anywhere.
Many of you know that I will often spend lots of time looking for rare dragonfly species, but I try not to take for granted the more common ones that many people (and photographers) ignore. The first image shows a male Common Whitetail that was hovering for a moment as he kept watch over a female as she deposited eggs in the water.
The second image is a portrait of a male Common Whitetail as he perched on some vegetation overhanging the water. If you look at the angle at which I took the shot, you can probably guess that I was at risk of falling into the water when I took the shot. The final shot is a portrait of a beautiful female Common Whitetail. When they are young, males have a similar coloration on their bodies as the females, but the wing patterns are different. You can also tell the genders apart by looking at the tip of the abdomen (the “tail”) where the terminal appendages are sexually differentiated.
As is often the case for species saddled with the name “common,” Common Whitetail dragonflies are uncommonly beautiful.
© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.
Mike Powell 
Looking it up just now, I find this about the most common species in the Interior of British Columbia where we live: “. . . The genus Sympetrum is a large one, most of the species in BC are similarly coloured to Autumn Meadowhawk. Cardinal Meadowhawk and Red-veined Meadowhawk are two red species whose ranges overlap with Autumn Meadowhawk . . . “
Thanks. That is fascinating to hear. I am quite familiar with the Autumn Meadowhawk, which is usually the last dragonfly of the year in my area. I have seen them as late as December in some years. My favorite dragonfly is from the Sympetrum genus–the Blue-faced Meadowhawk (Sympetrum ambiguum). Here’s a link to show you the amazing coloration of this cool-looking dragonfly (https://michaelqpowell.com/2018/08/11/my-favorite-dragonfly-2/)
Amazing creatures 🙂
I learned from the San Diego Zoo that dragonflies and damselflies lived before the dinosaurs though I have never seen one.
I have read that here are fossils of large dragonfly-like insects that date back to as much as 300 million years ago, during the late Paleozoic period. 🙂
Beautiful, Mike.
According to my quick search, ours (CT) is either the Azure Bluet or the
Banded Pennant.
I have seen both of those in the past, Dan, though neither is very common here.
Nice Mike! They are common here also! Along with quite a few others!
Thanks, Reed. The other ones that I see most often are Eastern Pondhawks and Blue Dashers, followed by Slaty Skimmers and Great Blue Skimmers.
I’ve only rarely seen dragon- and damselflies here in New Zealand, as I don’t get close to lakes and streams nearly as often as I’d like, But there are quite a variety around our cabin in Minnesota, and they are our best friends, since they do a superb job of gobbling up all the mosquitoes they can catch. The most common, by far, that typically hatch by the thousands in early July, are the magnificent Dragonhunters (Hagenius brevistylus): https://krikitarts.wordpress.com/2015/06/28/here-be-dragons/. I also often see lake darners (Aeshna eremita) and four-spotted skimmers (Libelula quadrimaculata), and when I’m fishing in my little local trout stream, river jewelwngs (Calopteryx aequabilis) are frequent companions and observers.