Mike Powell

Some of the familiar summer dragonflies have started to appear, including this female Common Whitetail (Plathemis lydia) that I spotted earlier this month during a visit to Occoquan Regional Park in nearby Lorton, Virginia. Common Whitetail dragonflies have a long flight period that begins in the spring and extends well into the autumn months.

Females of this species, despite their name, are brownish in color with the markings that you can see in the photo below. Immature males start off with a similar coloration, but relatively quickly their bodies become white. How do I know that this one is a female? Males and females have different markings on their wings. Males have a larger dark patch in the middle of each wing and the tips of the wings remain clear, while the females have a smaller patch in the middle of each wing and a second dark patch at the tip of each wing.

Common Whitetails are in fact quite common in this area and can be found in a variety of habitats. I nonetheless enjoy taking photos of them that highlight various aspects of this behavior. This photo, for example, shows how light in weight these dragonflies are, capable of perching on the edge of a dry, fallen leaf.

© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.