Ruby Meadowhawk Female
Sympetrum rubicundulum

Black Saddlebags Male
Tramea lacerata

White Faced Meadowhawk
Sympetrum obtrusum

White Faced Meadowhawk
Sympetrum obtrusum

Blue Dasher Female
Pachydiplex longipennis

Eastern Pondhawk Male
Erythemis simplicicollis

Green Darner Male
Anax junius

Blue Dasher Male
Pachydiplex longipennis

Widow Skimmer
Libellula luctuosa

The presence and abundance of odonates may be taken as an indicator of ecosystem quality. Local populations can be strongly affected by any change in water flow, turbidity, etc., or in aquatic or waterside vegetation. The greatest numbers of species are found at sites which offer a wide variety of microhabitats, prey, and clean water.

Odonates are completely harmless - they do not sting or bite. Indeed, they are beneficial in the same respect spiders and other predators are beneficial - they keep the burgeoning insect population in check. Many of these species prey on each other; I often see dragonflies with damsels in their clutches. Dragonflies are among the most ancient of living creatures. Fossil records, clearly recognisable as the ancestors of our present day odonates, go back to Carboniferous times which means that the insects were flying more than 300 million years ago, predating dinosaurs by over 100 million years and birds by some 150 million.

Common Whitetail
Libellula lydia

Ebony Jewelwing
Calopteryx maculata

Variegated Meadowhawk
 Sympetrum corruptum