S. M. Garver - Wildlife Photos

This page showcases damselflies--the skinny-bodied relative of dragonflies who almost always holds their wings together above their bodies when at rest.
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I think this may be a Carolina spreadwing damselfly.

This male Rambur's forktail damselfly has a blueish tinge to its upper body rather than the more usual green color. The blue tip with its forked end helped me identify it.
[A damselfly holds a top leaf of a plant. The damselfly has a brown segmented thin body with a light blue rear-end tip and greenish-blue and black stripes on its thorax. It has clear wings with dark webbing which are approximately two-thirds the length of the body.]

This is another two-toned male Rambur's forktail damselfly.
[A damselfly holds a piece of grass with the back end of its body up in the air. The coloring visible on this damselfly is similar to the last one except the light tan underside on all but the last segment of its body is visible. The last segment is a band of black and then one of light blue with the very tip being black.]

The two blue spots on the tops of the eyes of the Rambur's forktail are called eye spots and are the actual color and not a reflection of light on the damselfly.
[A top-down view of the damselfly as it stands on a wide blade of grass. While the bottom half of the eyes are greenish-blue, the top half is all black except for two light blue spots, one atop each eye.]

The female Rambur's forktail damselfly is orange and black.
[A top, side view of a damselfly on a blade of grass. The damselfly has clear wings with only a hint of color at the end. The body is black with tan only at the segment joints. The thorax is orange with one black stripe on the top which has caught the light of the sun and is mostly sparkly gold in color. The tops of its eyes are black with the rest being orange.]

The underside of the body of a female Rambur's forktail damselfly is light blue (which is the same as the underside and thorax color of the male).
[A top, side view of a damselfly on a blade of grass. The top of the body is black and the barely visible underside is light blue.]

Mating Rambur's forktails. Male is on top with greenish body and blue tail end.
[The male holds a piece of vertical grass as the tail end of his body curls downward to latch behind the head of the female. The female curls the entire thin part of her body upward to latch the tail end to a section of the male just behind and below his thorax. Her green thorax is a brownish green.]

Here's a top-down view of the same pair. These two really bend significantly in order to mate.
[he blade of grass covers part of the male's face. The underside of the male's back segments is light tan with a dark stripe down the center. Only a few of the female's segments undersides are visible and hers is more light grey with a black stripe down the center.]

The stripes on the thorax are visible on this Variable Dancer.
[A front-side view of a damselfly standing on the top of a short stick. The light and dark stripes on the thorax are visible behind the oversized eyes of the damselfly.]

Although the wings of a Variable Dancer appear dark, one can see the colors of the rocks through the wings.
[A side view of a damselfly with its wings opened slighly. The light color portions of the rock behind the wings are visible through them.]

The wings on this Variable Dancer are much shorter than its body and the striped pattern on the wings is visible.
[A top-down view of a damselfly with its wings open to the side as it is perched on a wide green leaf. The wings are not quite two-thirds the length of the body. The solid green leaves behind the wings make the width-wise striped pattern of them visible.]

The male variable dancer has a blue section on its hind end.
[A left side view of the damselfly perched at the end of a leaf of grass. Its wings are above the body in two sets such that one can not see through them. The last two segments of the body are light blue while the rest is dark brown. Stripes on the thorax are black and purple. There is also a purple section on the head.]

This may be a female furtive forktail damselfly.
An unseasonably warm winter may be why I saw this in January.
[A side view of a damselfly on a branch which lies on pavement. The damselfly has clear wings with only a hint of color at the end. The body is light green and brown.]

Citrine forktail damselfly with its forked end readily apparent.
[A top-down view of a damselfly which only has its head over a blade of grass. The damselfly's clear wings are barely visible. The body is yellow with black splotches at each segment. The thorax is black and light green. The eyes are brownish-green on the underside and black on top.]

This citrine forktail is positioned so the white section near the tip of the wing is more visible.
[A side view of a damselfly which faces left as it is perched near the end of a stick. The body is mostly yellow and the thorax appears to be light green. The wings are together above the body at an angle. The wings are clear except for a white dot near the upper edge farthest from the body.]

I believe this is also a female citrine forktail.
[A side view of a damselfly which faces right as it is perched near the end of a stick. The body is mostly green and blue with black patches at the end of each segment of its body. The thorax appears to be brown and black stripes. The wings are nearly all clear, but there appears to be a small whitish segment at the far end.]

This may be a female citrine forktail damselfly of the olive type.
[A side front view of a damselfly on a blade of grass. The damselfly has clear wings with dark stripes outlining segments of the wings. The thorax has a thick black stripe on the top middle and brown on the sides. The top half of the eyes are black and the lower part is green. The body is black with light stripes separating the segments.]

A different probable female citrine forktail damselfly of the olive type.

This may be a young fragile forktail damselfly because the 'exclamation point' pattern on the thorax is quite faint.
[A top, side view of a damselfly holding a blade of grass with its body perpendicular to the grass. The damselfly has clear wings. The body is dark on top and light blue on its barely-visible underside. The tops of its eyes are dark as are the back parts of the leg segments closest to its body.]

These are both male Fragile forktail damselflies.
[Two photos spliced together. The damselfly on the left has blue eye spots and blue exclamation on its back and a blue belly while the one on the right has light green coloring instead of blue. Both are perched on leaves. The clear wings with black outlines are visible only on the damselfly on the right due to the angle of the photos.]

I've not yet identified this damselfly although it appears to be a forktail based on the bumps on its tail-end. It may be a young damselfly who has yet to transition to adult colors.
[A top-down view of a damselfly on a blade of grass. The wings are like black lace over its greenish-brown body. It's thorax and legs seem to be all brown. The undersides of this damselfly are not visible.]

This damselfly seems similar to the prior one, but this photo was taken several years later.
[A near front-on view of a damselfly holding the very tip of a blade of grass. The eyes and the thorox are clear while the back part of the damselfly is slightly out of focus. This damselfly is nearly all brown with a few black stripes along the outside of the thorax.]

Possibly an eastern red damsel
[A top-down view of a damselfly standing on pale grey concrete. The entire damselfly is red except for its black-lined clear wings. The thorax has a few black stripes and there is some black along the tops of its eyes. Its legs are and orangish color.]

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