American Emerald

Erika found me an American Emerald along a local hiking trail in the Darlin Creek Preserve on 7 May 2020. We knew this species from Minnesota, and we saw one last year in our backyard in Olympia. Note the yellow ring around the upper end of the abdomin. This species can be common near water in Washington lowland forests. Its range stretches across most of northern North America, from Alaska across Canada south to nortern California in the West and North Carolina in the East. Oddly, emeralds are most active in cool mornings or afternoons rather than in the heat of midday (Paulson 2009).