june jewels

When I'm lucky enough to see these damselflies

swooping and darting about like animated jewels,

it always stops me in my tracks.

The colors are incredible.

Dazzling.

I don't know much about insects,

so I did a little poking around online to find an ID for you.

It seems this is Calopteryx maculata or "ebony jewelwing."

I think "ebony-winged jewel" would better suit.

When they are in flight, their bodies glisten, green and blue,

while the wings are a black blur.

I am not fast enough to get a picture of a damselfly in flight,

but here is a glimpse of the wing/body color combination

during take-off:

Dragonflies, like this lovely visitor from last September,

tend to keep their wings open when they land:

Damselflies generally fold their wings when they are at rest:

But they don't seem to "rest" for very long!

For every image of a damselfly, I took two of a leaf or rock where a damselfly had been resting a nanosecond earlier.

I feel very lucky to have these images to share :)

~~~~~