It has taken a little while, but I am starting to see damselflies during my searches for dragonflies. As many of you know, damselflies and dragonflies are “cousins” in the sense that they are both members of the order Odonata. Generally speaking, dragonflies have thicker, shorter bodies and hold their wings out to the sides when resting, while damselflies are slender with wings often folded together. The eyes of dragonflies often touch each other, while those of damselflies tend to be more widely separated.
The first photo below shows a Fragile Forktail damselfly (Ischnura posita), a very common species where I live. The interrupted shoulder stripes look like exclamation marks, which makes them pretty easy to identify. The second photo shows what I am pretty certain is a female Eastern Forktail damselfly (Ischnura verticalis). Female damselflies of a number of species are similar in appearance, so I am a bit less confident that I have correctly identified this individual.
More damselflies will continue to appear as I shift my attention almost exclusively from birds to insects. As a result of recent rains, the trees in my area are now covered with leaves, which means that I am increasingly having trouble seeing the birds that I can hear singing.
© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.
Mike Powell 
Beautiful.
Thanks, Michael. During this time of the year I tend to feature a lot of dragonflies, but I can assure that I am also trying to get photos of damselflies when I see them. The are small a bit harder to spot and photograph, so comparatively speaking you won’t see them as often in my posts.
Yes they can be tricky to photograph as they tend to drive the autofocus crazy 🤣.