Red Saddlebags Dragonfly - Tramea onusta

Nice

I envy those that can get a pic of these. I see the red ones every day but they just are not photogenic. And when they are, the sun is in the wrong spot. Way to go.

… Carla Finley, 30 October, 2006 - 2:50pm

Tramea onusta?

Looks more like onusta with the clear patch in the back wing near the body and not much black at all on the end of the abdomen. Do you have luck telling these apart?

… john and jane balaban, 21 July, 2004 - 2:16pm

Thanks!

I'll change and move it:)

… Tony DiTerlizzi, 14 November, 2004 - 11:55pm

Terrific photo

I noticed the position of the front leg. I recently had a female Blue Dasher that allowed me to get very close. I observed it cleaning its eye with the front leg. (Dragonflies through Binoculars (2000), p.24, last sentence of top paragraph). I got a shot of it with its front leg in a similar position as your Saddlebags, and I am curious if you saw that behaviour and/or if perching might be related to eye cleaning.

jj

… John Fox, 7 July, 2004 - 10:21pm

Front leg positioning...

Hey jj,

Thanks for the praise, I truly was psyched to get a shot of one of these perching.

I have quite a few shots of dragonflies with the front legs in this position. Though this one was not cleaning it's eyes/face...I have seen them do that plenty of times while landed (except for when they are in the "obelisk" position).

… Tony DiTerlizzi, 8 July, 2004 - 5:04pm