The weather has gotten decidedly colder, with daily high temperatures struggling to get past 60 degrees (16 degrees C). I am beginning to wonder if this female bluet that I saw last week at Huntley Meadows Park will be my final damselfly sighting of the season.
I was fairly confident that this was a female Familiar Bluet damselfly (Enallagma civile), but once again I learned how difficult identification can be when I posted the image to a Facebook forum for dragonflies and damselflies in Virginia. Several experts weighed in with suggestions that the eyespots made then think it was a female Atlantic Bluet (Enallagma doubledayi), a species that I have never before encountered.
How hard can it be to identify a damselfly? One of the aforementioned experts noted that “you cannot be completely sure about many female Enallagma without microscopic examination.” Microscopic examination? Yikes!
© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.
Mike Powell 
My word they hang on in there in the States! Haven’t seen any odes for weeks now. As for how hard id is well we have far fewer species and they can be a right pain, the males are (sometimes) a touch easier.
Certainly one of the last Michael 😉
I sure like the simplicity of this photo, Mike! The blue color of the damselfly is amazing! Glory!
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There’s always a surprise just when you think things have ended. That said, I doubt I’ll be seeing many more insects of any variety much less an ode. If it is your last it is a fitting finale…lovely portrait, Mike.
Thanks, Steve. I expect to still see some Autumn Meadowhawk dragonflies, but not too many insects beyond that. I did, however, see four of five Common Buckeye butterflies yesterday, so they are not quite gone yet.
The few that you’re still seeing may well be the hardiest of their kind, so it’s likely to be their offspring we’ll see next season. Nice shot!
Thanks, Gary. I have mostly changed my approach now as I start to focus on birds. I haven’t given up hope altogether that I will find a few more hardy survivors of the insect world.
Glad you captured the photo. Also glad you did not capture it for microscopic ID. Let them fly free, even if you are uncertain about the name 😉
There are some folks I know who will net specimens to help identify them and then release them, but that is definitely not something I am interested in doing. Sometimes if I don’t know the official name of a species, I will make up my own name for it.
Love that creativity!!
🙂