Shadow Darner

On 27 September 2020, Erika found me a Shadow Darner at Darlin Creek Preserve south of Olympia. I have seen dark darners several times there, but this is my first successful photograph, Most of its field marks, aside from its small abdominal spots, are not clearly shown in this image. This dragonfly, however, is a late-flying species—into December in Oregon (Kerst and Gordon 2011)—that often oviposits in rotten wood (Paulson, pers. com.). This species is found from southern Canada and across must of the United States north of the extreme south.