Male Eastern Pondhawk

Eastern Pondhawks (Erythemis simplicicollis) are very common in Georgia, and if you spend any time at all looking at dragonflies, you will quickly learn to recognize this species. The one pictured is a male; the powder blue body and green face are good field marks.

Mature female Eastern Pondhawks, such as the one shown below, are so different in color they might reasonably be thought to be a different species. However, the difference in coloration between the sexes is only “skin deep” so to speak. Immature males are green, and closely resemble the adult females. As the males age they develop a blue waxy coating on the surface of their bodies, and this masks the green underneath. If you could scrape the blue coating off the male, it would still show the green markings underneath.

Female Eastern Pondhawk