On Tuesday I spotted this female Common Green Darner (Anax junius) dragonfly at Occoquan Bay National Wildlife Refuge, the first darner that I have been able to photograph this season. Like most darners, Common Green Darners are relatively large dragonflies—about 3 inches (76 mm) in length—that spend a lot of time patrolling in the air. In fact, Common Green Darners are one of a handful of dragonflies that migrate, so that the earliest ones that we see in spring are likely to have migrated from more southern locations before local Common Green Darners have emerged.
When I first spotted this dragonfly, she was patrolling over a field of tall vegetation. I watched her fly back and forth for quite a while. When she decided to take a break, I was lucky to see where she landed.
As you can see in the photo, Common Green Darners normally hang vertically. In this case the dragonfly perched relatively close to the ground, so it was a bit of a challenge to frame the shot, particularly because I was shooting with my long telephoto zoom lens. I am quite pleased, though, with the resulting image that shows off a lot of the details of this species, including the distinctive black and blue “bullseye” in from of the dragonfly’s large compound eyes.
© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.
Mike Powell 
nice, clear shot. So fascinating that some of them migrate. Also, we used to call them sewing bugs, so the darner name makes sense. My older cousin used to scare me when I was little and say the sewing bugs would sew my eyes shut!
Thanks. It is fascinating to hear about your experience with the legend that dragonflies would sew your eyes shut. I am not sure that I have ever encountered anyone who actually had personal experience with that legend. Cool!
You’re welcome. So that is a known legend? Somehow that makes me feel better.
I guess that it is somewhere between a “legend” and an “old wives’ tale.” 🙂
🙂
In my childhood it was my lips that were in danger of that sewing maneuver.
Beautiful.
Thanks. I love the challenge of capturing the beauty of these incredible aerial acrobats. I am quite fortunate to live in an area where we have an amazing variety of dragonflies and damselflies.
Great capture, Mike, and a real beauty.