Species Spotlight: American Rubyspot

The American Rubyspot is an impressive damselfly.  It is fairly large for a damselfly, and has dazzling "ruby" spots at the base of its wings.  Here is a look at the male of the species:



Here's another view, with a Blue-ringed Dancer in the background:



When an American Rubyspot wants to fend off a rival, it flicks its wings open to flash the ruby spots.  It also bends the tip of its abdomen forward, and opens its appendages, in a "stinging" threat pose. In the next photo we see an American Rubyspot fending off a California Dancer that would like to perch on the same stem:

Merry Christmas, 2015

Happy Holidays and Season's Greetings!

Special greetings from the Happy-face Dragonfly:

To help us all get in the Christmas spirit, here's a physics problem from Walker Physics involving Santa:

The situation can be visualized as follows:

And now for the calculation:

Here's a bit of insight into the results:

Ah, nothing like a physics calculation to add to the enjoyment of a day.

Merry Christmas!

Season's Greetings

Season's Greetings from the Happy-face Darner to the readers of "The Dragonfly Whisperer" blog.  Happy Holidays!

Merry Christmas Eve, 2015

The Happy-face Dragonfly wishes you a Merry Christmas:

Grady Drew It!

Our dear friend Grady Kelly-Post has completed a wonderful pencil-drawing rendition of the Happy-face Dragonfly.  Here it is:





We're so happy to have a representation of this fascinating insect, especially one drawn by our long-time friend.

Species Spotlight: American Emerald

One of the more elusive dragonflies in Anacortes is the American Emerald.  So far, we've only seen this species in June and July, and then it's usually just one or two observations.

The American Emerald is an easy dragonfly to ID.  Here's a shot showing the main field marks:



Of course, the most striking field mark for this species is the intense, emerald-green color of the eyes.  Overall, this dragonfly looks black in flight, but when it turns toward you the eyes flash a brilliant green.



The second distinguishing field mark is the white ring at the base of the abdomen.  This can be seen clearly below:



The similar-looking Ringed Emerald has a white ring at the base of each segment of the abdomen.

This is a beautiful and intriguing dragonfly.  It's always a special treat to see one of them flying around Cranberry Lake.

Dragonfly Carpet

My mother is attending the Baseball Winter Meetings in Nashville this week.  At the hotel where she's staying, and where the meetings are held, she noticed an interesting carpet.  Here it is:



Nice to see dragonflies making their way into many interesting environments!

Christmas is Coming

We're getting deeper into the Christmas season each day, and here at our home we are fully decorated.  Here's a Dragonfly Whisperer version of season's greetings:

Dragonfly Whispering

A lot of people are getting interested in dragonfly whispering.

Here's a peek inside the book:

This is a Paddle-tailed Darner, the Happy-face Dragonfly, whispered onto a finger.