This guy was watching me water all morning from his spot on the side of the house. I'm originally a city gal, so I've never seen a dragonfly this big before. Did some research, I think it's (correct me if I'm wrong!) a Common Green Darner (Anax junius). Not sure if its male or female. In any case, he (or she) took my breath away!
I like the 1st pic because it shows the color in his wings. But this one is for scale. His body is 3" long, his wingspan is 3 3/4" across and his head is 1/2" wide.
Rachael, I am nosy. Watcha using for a camera, nice quality.
Thank you!! Its a Nikon Coolpix 5400. I like it.
He's a beauty and you captured him in all his glory! He does not seem at all alarmed by you, does he? Good job. :~)
Donna
Thanks, Donna! Nope, he just hung out there and let me take pictures of him and when I was done, he flew away!
Great photos! I don't recall seeing this big of a dragonfly before. It's really spectacular. That compound eye is incredible. (Or do you say "those compound eyes?" How weird, I never thought about whether it was one or two eyes before .)
I looked in my Audubon field guides (for CA, and for N. American Insects & Spiders) and your dragonfly does look like a Green Darner. The site http://www.sonic.net/~bigsnest/Pond/dragons/darners.html
says there are two species in CA, a Common Green Darner (Anax junius) and a Giant Darner (Anax Walsinghami). Maybe yours is the Giant? The same site explains how to tell the diff between a male and female, but even after reading it, I'm not sure what your dragonfly is!
I see in the preview the entire URL for the hyperlink doesn't show up. I don't know why. When I copied and pasted, the line was longer. Here's the portion of the URL that should follow what shows up above: /~bigsnest/Pond/dragons/darners.html
Thanks for the great site. I saved it as a favorite.
It seems based on the length and color, mine was a female Common Green Darner. Her body size, which I measured roughly to be between 70-75mm is smaller than the Giant Darner. thanks again for helping find out what she was!
