Posts Tagged: Enallagma cyathigerum

Like a (Blue) Needle in a Haystack

Sometimes it's like trying to find a needle in a haystack.

The common blue damselfly or Northern Bluet (Enallagma cyathigerum) is long and slender like a needle, but a jeweled blue needle.

We spotted this one last weekend at the Häagen-Dazs Honey Bee Haven, a half-acre bee friendly garden located next to the Harry H. Laidlaw Jr. Honey Bee Haven on Bee Biology Road, University of California, Davis. 

Damselflies are difficult to photograph. You have to sneak up on them. If you move too fast toward them, they're gone. 

Damselflies and dragonflies share the same order, Odonata. However, damselflies are in the suborder Zygoptera.

Naturalist John Acorn of the University of Alberta, calls the blue damselflies "flying neon toothpicks." In fact, his book, Damselflies of Alberta is subtitled Flying Neon Toothpicks in the Grass. 

Whether you call them needles or toothpicks, damselflies are stunning.

Common blue damselfly. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)

Common blue damselfly. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)

Another view of common blue damselfly. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)

Another view of common blue damselfly. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)