Thursday, August 12, 2010

Black Saddlebags (Tramea lacerata)

An uncommon dragonfly locally, this teneral male is only my second encounter with a Black Saddlebags, my last sighting was in August of 2008. It was found perching on the sidewalk and moved to a safe place in the garden.

Being a teneral (note the luster of the wings in the first image) the dragonfly cannot have roamed far from where it emerged from the water. So ... why aren't these insects more conspicuous, and where are they breeding?