Variable dancer
(Argia fumipennis)

Description: Male are purple, including head. Females are brown but with some purple. Often perch on the ground or a rock. Common and widespread.

Habitat: Prefers small lakes and ponds.

Length: 30 mm

Wingspan: 40 mm

Adults: July - October

Ebony Jewelwing
(Calopteryx maculata)

Description: Black with blue-green sheen. Wings appear brownish. Female has white spot ("stigmata")at tip of wing. Common and well-studied species.

Habitat: Prefers slow-moving streams, but will stray into urban areas.

Length: 50 mm

Wingspan: 80 mm

Adults: July - October

Eastern Forktail
(Ischnura verticalis)

Description: Sexually dimorphic.

Habitat: Ponds.

Length: 30 mm

Wingspan: 40 mm

Adults: July - October

Ruby Meadowhawk
(Sympetrum rubicundulum)

Description: Male has red abdomen with black triangles (not present in Yellow-legged Meadowhawk). Female has yellow abdomen. Ruby, Yellow-legged, and Cherry-faced Meadowhawks are tricky to distinguish in the field, especially the females.

Habitat: Fields, meadows, gardens.

Length: 30 mm

Wingspan: 70 mm

Adults: July - October

Meadowhawk sp.
(Sympetrum sp.)

Description: Male of either Cherry-faced Meadowhawk (Sympetrum internum), Ruby Meadowhawk (Sympetrum rubicundulum) or White-faced Meadowhawk (Sympetrum obtrusum).

Habitat: Fields, meadows, gardens.

Length: 40 mm

Wingspan: 70 mm

Adults: July - October

Band-winged Meadowfly
(Sympetrum semicinctum)

Description: Small, bright red (males) or orange (females) dragonflies. Males have distinctive wing colouring. The bottom one-third of the wings is a light orange. This species is "late-flying" and more common in late summer when it can be found perched on dead flowerheads along the edges of meadows and marshes.

Habitat: Meadows, marshes.

Length: 30 mm

Wingspan: 70 mm

Adults: July - October

Blue Dasher
(Pachydiplax longipennis)

Description: Males and females look quite different. Abdomen is blue in males, whereas it is golden-brown in females. Females have a shorter abdomen than males. Thorax is pale green with dark stripes. When perched often lets the wings droop down. Common, widespread and well-studied species.

Habitat: Ponds, lakes, slow-moving streams.

Length: 40 mm

Wingspan: 80 mm

Adults: June - October

Common Baskettail
(Tetragoneuria cynosura)

Description: Wings transparent but for the large brown patch at the base of the hindwings. Large, territorial species. Prefer ponds and swamps where they can be quite common. Fly early. Females lay eggs in flight, dipping the ovipositor under the water surface to deposit clusters of eggs on submerged plants and sticks. The male will guard the female during egg-laying, flying above her.

Habitat: Ponds.

Length: 40 mm

Wingspan: 60 mm

Adults: July - September

Common Green Darner
(Anax junius)

Description: Common. Thorax is green, abdomen blue. Up close the face has a distinctive bull's eye pattern. Feeds on wasps, butterflies and mosquitoes. Migratory.

Habitat: Ponds, slow-moving streams.

Wingspan: 100 mm

Adults: July - October

Calico Pennant
(Celithemis elisa)

Description: Bright red abdomen. Wings have brown spot on each wing tip, and a larger brown patch at base of hind wings. Face yellow. Likes to perch on top of grass stalks. Common.

Habitat: Found in meadows and open areas close to water.

Length: 30 mm

Wingspan: 60 mm

Adults: July - October

Common Whitetail
(Libellula lydia)

Description: Seen flying over ponds and meadows. Sexually dimorphic. Males have distinctive pale abdomen. Females have a brown-patterned abdomen, but the wing pattern is similar to males.

Habitat: Ponds.

Length: 70 mm

Wingspan: 80 mm

Adults: July - October

Twelve-spotted Skimmer
(Libellula pulchella)

Description: Slender, with unmistakeable wing pattern of black and white patches. Abdomen is blue-brown with a pale yellow stripe down each side. Strongly territorial. Likes to perch on slender stick or grass overhanging water.

Habitat: Prefers sunny, open shoreline of ponds and lakes.

Length: 60 mm

Wingspan: 100 mm

Adults: July - October

Eastern Pondhawk
(Erythemis simplicicollis)

Description: This beautiful dragonfly is a young male which still resembles the female and has not yet attained the bright blue markings of an adult male. A hunter, the Pondhawk pursues smaller insects such as mosquitoes and flies, then seizes them with its spiny front legs.

Habitat: Ponds, meadows

Length: 60 mm

Wingspan: 70 mm

Adults: July - October