One of the highlights of our visit to Canada was that the ponds, creeks and cut off meanders of the Blaeberry River near Golden in British Columbia were home to a mass of dragon- and damselflies.
I don't think I have ever seen so many of these fascinating beasts skimming across the water. This smart individual is a male belted whiteface (
Leucorrhinia proxima) while....
....here a pair of belted whitefaces form a 'wheel' as they mate.
The most common species in the area at this time of year seems to be the boreal whiteface (
Leucorrhinia borealis)....
....the female being almost identical to the male except she uses a browny-yellow in place of his brilliant scarlet patches.
Her colour was picked up by this common species, the four-spotted skimmer (
Libellula quadrimaculata).
Nor was the area short of damselflies, of which this one, the northern bluet (
Enallagma annexum), was the most striking and common. By contrast....
....I have struggled to identify this damselfly, partly because I only managed one picture of it, with many of its features hidden. Its distinctive grey eyes suggest it may be a powdered dancer,
Argia moesta. Does it matter?
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