Paddle-tailed Darner

As is often my habit, on 20 August 2020, I took an early afternoon swing through our backyard. Dragonflies were my prey, but, finding none, I stood alongside a forest edge of bushy Evergreen Huckleberries. This gorgeous darner flew up and landed in the bushes in front of me. What a gem! No wonder I became fascinated by these creatures. 

Unless you net them, darners are difficult to identify. I was confident, and Dennis Paulson confirmed, that this dragonfly is a Paddle-tailed Darner. Its 10th abdominal segment has a blue spot. The lines on the thorax sides do not have backward sloping extenstions. But most of all, the abdominal extensions on this beast are wicked long—spined and broad. Dennis assured me that this species is common in western Washington, emerging relatively late in the season, after the first flush of Blue-eyed Darners. Paddle-tailed Darners are Western dragonflies, found from Mexico and southwestern Canada east into the central Great Plains.