Colorful Damselflies

Check out these glistening gems—mating damselflies on a late spring afternoon.

Powdered Dancers
It’s two pairs of Powdered Dancers, males clasping ovipositing females, a striped blue form female on the left and a brown form female on the right.
Stream Bluet
A male Stream Bluet (Enallagma exsulans) perched on a grass stem in a vegetated buffer along a rehabilitated creek.
Stream Bluets
A pair of Stream Bluets, male clasping female.
Ebony Jewelwing
A male Ebony Jewelwing (Calopteryx maculata) looking for a mate.
A female Ebony Jewelwing
There she is, the shy female Ebony Jewelwing among the shelter of some streamside foliage.
A male Variable Dancer.
A male Variable Dancer (Argia fumipennis).
Variable Dancers
A mating pair of Variable Dancers, male clasping female.
Variable Dancers
Two mating pairs of Variable Dancers, males clasping ovipositing females.
Powdered Dancers and Variable Dancers
Two pairs of mating damselflies, Powdered Dancers (left) and Variable Dancers (right), with both females ovipositing.
A male Double-striped Bluet
A male Double-striped Bluet (Enallagma basidens) showing his stuff.
A female Fragile Forktail
A female Fragile Forktail.
Powdered Dancers and Fragile Forktail
Mating Powdered Dancers, male clasping female, and an ovipositing female Fragile Forktail.
Mating Orange Bluets in wheel position.
A pair of mating Orange Bluets (Enallagma signatum) in wheel position, male above and female below.

Aren’t they precious?  You bet they are.

To see these and other damselflies, as well as their larger cousins the dragonflies, be certain to visit your favorite vegetated lake, pond, stream, or wetland on a sunny afternoon.  You might be surprised by the variety of colorful species you can find.

And to help identify your sightings, don’t forget to visit our “Damselflies and Dragonflies” page by clicking the tab bearing that name at the top of this page.

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