My Favorite Florida Dragonflies

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Four-spotted Pennant
I wish I knew the species of Dragonflies that I see here in Florida.  Perhaps this year will be the year that I learn to identify them.  But even without knowing the species, I think dragonflies are beautiful creatures.  Fast-flying hunters, they always capture my attention as I seek to capture their photos.

UPDATE: I've received some great feedback from Steve Collins below, and now I have some conclusive IDs of these dragonflies.  After updating the captions to these photos, I've reordered the photos according to species.  So if you compare my photos now to what is in Steve Collins' comment, they won't match, but they're still right (if that makes sense).

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Four-spotted Pennant
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Four-spotted Pennant
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Four-spotted Pennant
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Halloween Pennant
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Marl Pennant
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Needham's Skimmer
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Needham's Skimmer

Comments

  1. Lovely dragonfly photos. Once I started photographing dragonflies and damselflies, I couldn't stop, and I just had to know the names of each one - which became a very rewarding compulsion ;)

    The dragon at the top of the white flowers is, I believe, a Black Saddlebags. I hesitate to try the others as species can be quite regional in scope.

    You might enjoy the site: http://www.odonatacentral.org/ It is an excellent site for Odonata science, reporting and photos, though not really aimed at beginner identification. If you search for sites using terms such as "dragonfly identification" you will find plenty. You could also try bugguide.net. I can't recommend a field guide as mine only cover the western U.S.

    I've added to my Circles on G+ and look forward to seeing more Odonate photos there.

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    Replies
    1. Thanks so much for the help! Someone else also emailed me with the species names of these dragonflies. I'll be adding those to the post. Between your help, the one who sent the email, and the site recommendation, I may be well on my way to figuring out these wonderful creatures.

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    2. Excellent! I'd love to revisit the photos once the species names are added. Why don't you post (or repost) to G+ when you do, so I'll know to come look. (Or you can post here, as I've subscribed to the comments.)

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  2. lol. Very good shots. What I wonder is how you avoid every greenary behind them. They are hard to shoot and there seems to always be something that disturbs the shot. I have a few Swedish ones in a blog.

    You also had some real beauties in the previous post. The butterflies.

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  3. I'm pretty sure the bottom one is a Golden-Winged Skimmer. I could be wrong as I'm not familiar with them here in New England, but I'd bet it's either that or one very similar. http://bugguide.net/node/view/3825

    Nice pics btw, I love how the first one is against a cloudless sky.

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    Replies
    1. Tahnks, Dan! I had the same suspicion from looking at odantacentral.org. But I wasn't totally convinced. You put me over the edge. I'm wondering now if the photo above it (#6) is the same species?

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  4. It is fantastic to discover those dragon from another spot in the world!
    I am starting to know quite well what there is in France, but the American dragonflies are exquisite! So as your photos!
    Really well done!
    A forum where some people have a great knowledge about worldwide dragonflies is:
    http://www.insecte.org/forum/
    Ok, it is in French, but in Odonata section, they speak fluent English and some live in Guyana... They are very knowledgeable...
    I have learned a great deal from them!
    I hope uou will show us more!
    Cheers Scott!

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  5. The photos on this page are (in order):
    Four-spotted Pennant
    Four-spotted Pennant (note the white stigmas)
    Four-spotted Pennant
    Halloween Pennant
    Marl Pennant
    Needham's Skimmer (Female)
    Four-spotted Pennant
    Needham's Skimmer

    Cheers!

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  6. Thanks so much, Steve. I've updated the captions above.

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  7. I live in southeast Fl and the Halloween Pennat dragonflies are everywhere in the grass what makes them do this.

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