Yeah! My dragonflies have been identified! Thanks Bill!

If you're curious about dragonflies, check out his page on them here after you're done looking at my site. Bill has more dragonfly pictures than I'll probably ever collect, and he knows what kind they are.

His I.D. on this pretty red one (above) is: "Roseate Skimmer (Orthemis ferruginea) - I think... hard to tell from this angle"

Now that just makes me all most curious enough to go look up how to tell which dragonfly is which. After I finish my local butterflies, I might do that.

And for this blue one: "Blue Dasher (Pachydiplax longipennis) - old female - it seems that older females can develop the bluish pruinosity"

I looked at that I.D. and went right to dictionary dot com to look up pruinosity. They didn't define it.

I finally found it on this page from the University of Puget Sound in their Glossary of dragonfly Terms:

"pruinosity - powdery bloom deposited on mature odonates of some species" Deposited how, why, what does it consist of? I'll keep looking.

That sent me looking up odonates... but I'll let you do that yourself; it's also defined in that glossary.

This blue dragonfly is another "Blue Dasher - another old female." Now, that dragonfly is so pretty that I'm starting to feel better about getting old!

"Pin-tailed Pondhawk (Erythemis plebeja) munching on Eastern Amberwing (Perithemis tenera)"

This scene was amazing to watch! I stood there snapping photos watching the blue dragonfly chew up the brown one. It was kind-of gross, but one of those you can't take your eyes off it moments:

This is as close to identifying one as I got; I thought that this little brown dragonfly was the same kind the slender blue one was eating. Ah, it's fun to be right sometimes. Now Bill can be specific: it's an "Eastern Amberwing (Perithemis tenera) - female - The wing pattern is a little more extensive than I am used to seeing."

The next two are the same, "Four-spotted Pennant (Brachymesia gravida) - young male."

This lady on the right is another "Eastern Amberwing (Perithemis tenera) - female."

 

The next dragonfly (below), the one with a smile that's looking right at you (my favorite!), is standing on a  dead branch on my grapefruit tree. Look under the tip of the branch. That white oval on a stalk is a lacewing egg.

Bill says it's a "Blue Dasher (Pachydiplax longipennis) - female" too.

I guess this one is younger than the very blue one above. They are so very pretty! I have a favorite dragonfly now:)

Thanks again Bill for sharing your dragonfly identifications! Bill's site has lots and lots of dragonflies and other neat creatures too: http://www.mangoverde.com/dragonflies/index.html