Sunday, August 01, 2010

Eastern Pondhawk (Erythemis simplicicollis)

Female Eastern Pondhawk

Eastern Pondhawk (Erythemis simplicicollis)

Range:  Quebec and Maine to Florida, west to Mexico, north to Washington.
Food:  Smaller flying insects.
Habitat:  Primarily ponds. Adults often perch on the ground.




Eastern Pondhawk - Male

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Female and young male Eastern Pondhawks are green with square, black spots on their abdomens.  As they age, males turn blue.  This male Pondhawk photographed by Jo is still showing just a little bit of green on its thorax.  BugGuide has and excellent series of photos showing both male and female Pondhawks are various stages of development.

Although we live up on a rocky ridge, there are evidently enough stock ponds around to provide suitable dragonfly habitat.


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3 comments:

Lana Gramlich said...

We have thousands of these in our area...literally. Possibly more pondhawks than any other kind of dragonfly. They're quite beautiful.

Christine said...

Stellar photos! I love photographing dragonflies but they seldom hold still enough for me to do so. We have a very elusive red one out here on the northern California coast. I never knew they were called pondhawks.

Birdy Official said...

Both the male and female are very pretty. We have a blue colored species of dragonfly, but not beautiful like this species.