#common baskettail

[onenicebugperday]

Hi we recently had a big dragonfly(I think) swarm, had to have been in the tens of thousands at least, where I live (northwestern new york) and my mom and I weren't quite able to tell what they were exactly what species they were. Thank you very much in advance :)

What a pretty fuzzy friend. There are so many ding dang dragonfly species and IDing them is definitely not one of my strengths but this one I think looks like a common baskettail, Epitheca cynosura.

[speakingofnature]

Common Baskettail Dragonfly

Female dragonflies lay their eggs in different ways. Some dip their abdomen into pond water and drop an egg, while others attach one egg at a time to vegetation just above the water's surface. The Common Baskettail (Epitheca cynosura) carries her mass of eggs (like a basket with eggs) until she finds the right place to deposit them. This may take much of the day. The choice location has vegetation with floating leaves, where she attaches the egg mass to a plant.

[celestialmacros]

Trying my hand at dragonflies in flight.  Not quite there yet.  These were cropped a lot, and I was using my 100mm macro lens because it was all I had with me. Would also like less blur in the wings.

Some sort of Baskettail dragonfly, probably Common Baskettail (Epitheca cynosura)

May 2, 2019

Statesville, North Carolina

[speakingofnature]

A morning walk near a small wetland revealed a few dragonflies, with Common Baskettails (Epitheca cynosura) comprising at least 75% of those observed.

[picothenico]