{"id":655,"date":"2010-05-25T00:05:31","date_gmt":"2010-05-25T07:05:31","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.thefreequark.com\/2009\/05\/common-blue-damselfly-enallagma-cyathigerum\/"},"modified":"2010-05-25T00:05:31","modified_gmt":"2010-05-25T07:05:31","slug":"dragonfly-or-damselfly","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ingridtaylar.com\/?p=655","title":{"rendered":"Dragonfly or Damselfly? A Few Clues"},"content":{"rendered":"

Re-posted from last year — in tribute to burgeoning life on the springtime pond.<\/em><\/p>\n

In this melee of global strife and catastrophe, there’s at least one thing you can know for sure: dragonfly or damselfly.<\/p>\n

I blame the awesome macro of my telephoto lens for this post. I went to UC Berkeley Botanical Garden<\/a> for a walk and some flower macro practice. I was barely 100 yards inside the gate when I noticed the thinnest of dragonflies making their Harrier moves across the pond.<\/p>\n

This is where photography can make you a social misfit. I spent the next 20 minutes hunched over my camera like a machine gunner, oblivious to all the people who must have passed by and imagined the great shots I’d have of overexposed water.<\/p>\n

What they didn’t know is that when I offloaded my pics, I’d have some head-on captures of … flying monkeys. Without my lens, I couldn’t have imagined the complexity of expression, in the ephemera of an insect I saw skittering across the pond.<\/p>\n

\"Blue

Blue Damselfly - \u00a9ingridtaylar<\/p><\/div>\n

Google searches of “dragonfly” and “blue” opened up the world of damselfly misidentification for me. So here’s the scoop for all of us neophytes:<\/p>\n

Dragonfly<\/em> tends to be the common, catch-all term for insects in the order Odonata<\/a>. Within this order of dragonflies and damselflies, you’ll find variations among families: darners<\/a>, biddies, clubtails, skimmers<\/a>.<\/p>\n

When distinguishing between the dragons and the damsels, it’s relatively easy once you see them up close. There are a few identifying characteristics unique to each. A damselfly looks like this:<\/p>\n

\"Blue<\/a>

Blue Damselfly - \u00a9ingridtaylar<\/p><\/div>\n

This is a Common Blue Damselfly (Enallagma cyathigerum), loafing today at the Japanese Pool, UC Berkeley Botanical Gardens. <\/em><\/p>\n

And this is a dragonfly:<\/p>\n

\"Red<\/a>

Red Dragonfly - \u00a9ingridtaylar<\/p><\/div>\n

Some of the traits apparent in the damselfly, as contrasted with the dragonfly:<\/p>\n