Description
A blue damselfly full length on a dry stem at Oaks Bottom — head, thorax, wings and the whole long abdomen, from the eyes to the blue band at the tail. This is the view a field guide would draw.
Seen entire like this, the proportions are startling. Almost the whole animal is abdomen: a thin, segmented rod that makes up perhaps three quarters of its length and hardly any of its weight.
It is not simply a body. It is a boom. That long tail acts as a counterweight and a rudder, giving a very light insect enough leverage to turn precisely and to hold a steady hover in moving air. It also has to be long enough to curl right around and reach the front of another damselfly, which is what mating requires in this group. And at the far end are the claspers a male uses to hold a female behind the head.
The wings tell you what this is at a glance. They are folded neatly back along the body, closed over the abdomen, which is the classic damselfly posture — a dragonfly at rest holds its wings out flat like a plane on a runway. Add the widely separated eyes and you have the identification without needing anything else.
Notice how little of the stem it is actually using. Damselfly legs are poor at walking and excellent at clinging; the animal essentially hangs from a single grip while the rest of it stays out in clear air, ready to drop into flight.
They are graceful, deliberate flyers, considerably slower than dragonflies, and I find them in the long grass along the lake shore in the late evening. If you approach slowly enough they carry on with what they were doing, which is more than most wildlife will offer you.
This is a high-resolution digital download of the photograph, made at Oaks Bottom Wildlife Refuge in Portland, Oregon — yours to print for your home or office, set as a wallpaper, or simply keep. Of the damselflies here this is the clearest full-body reference, and it works well printed alongside the close portraits.
What you’ll receive: a high-resolution JPEG, approximately 3424 × 2464 pixels — sharp enough to print at full photo quality up to about 11 × 8 inches at 300 DPI, and larger at normal wall viewing distances. Delivered as an instant download the moment your order is complete.
License: Personal use only. Print it for your own home, use it as a wallpaper or screen background, enjoy it yourself. Not licensed for commercial use, resale, redistribution, or AI training. © Jonathan Swanson / JonSwan Productions. All rights reserved.