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This is a photo of a mystery darner foraging over a remote spring
in eastern California, probably not a breeding area (no lakes, ponds, or
rivers nearby), on 16 Sep 2006. I got only one shot of it. The unretouched
shot is first, then 300% blowups (sharpened & saturated) of the head/thorax
and the abdomen. I have some initial ideas based on Manolis (2003) but
comments from those with more experienced are much needed. Rita Carratello
& I felt it was clearly not a Blue-eyed Darner because it seemed small
and dark, the eyes were not bright blue, nor were the blue spots very bright.
We had 'obvious' Blue-eyed Darners elsewhere that same day. The terminal
appendage also seems quite wrong for Blue-eyed in the photo. For what it's
worth, I think that the pterostigmas were a golden-brown in this shot,
despite the movement of the wings.
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