Costa Rica: Cerulean Dancer

We just returned from a wonderful trip to Costa Rica. It was a first trip to that country for us, and we explored a number of different areas and habitats. Here's a rough look at our itinerary:



We were there during the dry season, which was great for us, but not as conducive to seeing odonates. Even so, we did see a few. Our first was the Cerulean Dancer, which we saw at a small pond on a tour of a coffee plantation. Here's a look at this attractive damselfly:



Notice its "dancer" habit of holding its wings high above the abdomen when perched. Later we saw a pair laying eggs, with the female partially submerged:



Here's a side view:



It would have been interesting to watch to see if the female would eventually go completely underwater, but we had to get back to join the tour. We only had a few minutes to observe this damselfly, and get a few pictures, but it was fun to see a new species for us in a new country.