Dragonfly Field Guides

Review of Dragonfly Field Guides

This blog post contains affiliate links.  If it bothers you that I might make enough money to grab a Starbucks, please feel free to Google search the titles on your own.  

My summer reading project at the library was to find a good dragonfly field guide, which, as it turns out, was more difficult than I anticipated.  I was disappointed to find initially that our branch library did not have any field guides dedicated solely to dragonflies.  I later learned that the reason for this is that dragonfly-watching is relatively new compared to watching birds or butterflies.  However, as I searched the library’s database, I found that the main library did have about five books.  I requested those and waited patiently for them to arrive through intra-library loan.
aqua and green damselflyEastern Forktail damselfly
One by one, the books began to arrive.  I have learned so much about these amazing insects and am delighted to pass along my recommendation for one volume in particular.  Wild Guide: Dragonflies by Cynthia Berger was by far my favorite book.  It is filled with amazing full-color illustrations and plenty of information to satisfy the curious mind without being so scientific that the average reader would glaze over from vocabulary overload.   

Wild Guide: Dragonflies

Wild Guide: Dragonflies opens with a chapter describing the basic characteristics of dragonflies and damselflies.  Chapter Two called, “A Year in the Life of a Dragonfly” details the life stages and changes that happen over the full life cycle of the dragonfly.  This is followed by a fascinating explanation of various dragonfly behaviors—the things you may observe dragonflies doing in the wild.  Lastly, there is a short chapter on properly identifying dragonflies followed by a section of species accounts of some of the most common dragonflies in eastern North America.

Each species is pictured in beautiful watercolor illustration with a detailed description of markings, flight times, behaviors and similar species as well as an icon in the corner to demonstrate average size since the paintings are not to scale.

While not a comprehensive guide on our dragonfly species, Wild Guide: Dragonflies is a must-have field guide for those just beginning their journey of knowledge about these fascinating insects. 
red dragonfly photo by Adrienne Zwart I love the eyes on this Ruby Meadowhawk.

Dragonflies and Damselflies of Northeast Ohio

In contrast, Dragonflies and Damselflies of Northeast Ohio has a short section on the life cycles of dragonflies as well as a short chapter on identifying them in the nymph stage.  (I am not that involved to go looking for nymphs at this point.)  The majority of this guide’s pages are dedicated to species identification.  Filled with full-color illustrations, a flight-time graph, a length extremes graph, and a distribution map by county, this is a comprehensive field guide for the Northeast Ohio dragonfly enthusiast.  If a dragonfly has been sighted here in NE Ohio, there is a picture of it in this book.  Consequently, you may find yourself paging through several uncommon species before finding the dragonfly or damselfly that resembles the one you are watching.  It is a very specific and comprehensive guide for a 14-county-wide area, so it may not be as helpful for you if you live elsewhere.

Common Dragonflies & Damselflies of Ohio

The guide that I found most practical for field identification is actually a publication from Ohio’s Division of Wildlife.  It is a full-color booklet with all the features of a full-size field guide, but lightweight enough to tuck in a pocket of your backpack or camera bag.  Common Dragonflies &  Damselflies of Ohio includes species information, distribution maps, and flight period information with at least one full-color photograph of each featured species.  Where the male and female differ significantly, a photo of both sexes is included.  Possibly the best thing about this field guide is that is available as a free download along with several other publications from Ohio’s Division of Wildlife.  To access the free download, simply visit the Wild Resources – Publications page of ODNR’s Division of Wildlife website at www.dnr.state.oh.us.

If you are interested in learning more about dragonflies in your area, I suggest contacting your state’s Department of Natural Resources.  Perhaps they offer similar publications or at the very least, they might have a list of the species in your area.

I was amazed at how many different dragonflies and damselflies I’ve seen in my own backyard this summer.  But I notice that life is often that way.  Once you begin to closely examine something, a whole new dimension of that subject opens up to you.
brown and green dragonfly photo by Adrienne Zwart
This female Amberwing is lucky to be alive. Look closely at her forewings, and you’ll see she narrowly escaped the jaws of something.

CCbadge

Comments

Joanne Olivieri said…
What amazing macro shots. And thanks so much for all this info.
Great pictures of the dragonflies.... I'm so glad you found all of those guides... Pretty soon, you will be teaching classes at the library or the schools so that children can learn about them. I'm proud of you...

Have a great weekend.
Hugs,
Betsy
Snap said…
Wonderful post, Adrienne. Thanks for doing all the work on the guide reviews! (I've made notes.)

Hugs--
eileeninmd said…
Great photos and post on the dragonflies. I have been checking out the dragonflies and the butterflies this summer.
Deejbrown said…
Stunning photos...wow! I feel a kinship with the Amberwing....
Unknown said…
Beautiful closeup pictures as usual. Good info on following dragonflies.

Jim
cat said…
Amazing close ups of these slightly alien looking critters :)
Anonymous said…
What amazing close-ups of these lovely creatures!
DeniseinVA said…
Hi Adrienne, it hasn't been long since I developed an interest in dragonflies and damsel flies. This is a wonderful read with some great recommends. Your photos are outstanding!
An English Girl Rambles
Willard said…
Beautiful photographs and it is so true that there is so much to learn when one stops to look closely at something they originally thought was so simple.
Wonderful photos! I saw a beautiful blue/green dragonfly fly around me last weekend... It was so big, I'd never seen one that long before. If only it had stopped long enough for me to take a photo.
Misty DawnS said…
Fantastic post, my friend. You are SO right about a whole new dimension opening up once you start to examine something!!!
Eds said…
WoW! I love all your macro shots! Especially the one with a broken wing, really really nice!!! :)

Mine is here : Beauty of Nature
Carletta said…
Excellent shots!
I've seen many flying around my yard but have very photos. Those Ohio ones must like to sit longer than the WV ones. :)
I love dragonflies and have not found much on them either. Great post and the shots are wonderful!
Indrani said…
That is lot of info, great study done, a wonderful post.
Wonderful macros! Such lovely critters.
joco said…
Hiya Adreinne,

Beautiful pictures. Lovely post. I watche a programme about them on TV a while back and was rather sad to hear that they can be very savage.
Maybe because they have so little time to do what they need to do. We have no water near the house, but they seem happy on the roof of our GREEN car :-)
Beautiful photos and great information. The book we use is Dragonflies through Binoculars: A Field Guid to Dragonflies of North America by Sidney W. Dunkle.
Adrienne Zwart said…
Yes, I reviewed that one, too. Personally, I like field guides where the pictures and the info are all on the same page. With Dragonflies through Binoculars you have flip back from the info page to the corresponding color plates in the back. I find that to be too cumbersome. And the pictures that are included are small compared to the other guides I reviewed.
Janice K said…
You have taken some really great pictures. Digital photography has sure let us see things up close we never saw before. What amazing creations!
Stunning close ups! Love seeing all details of them. Thanks a lot :)
Linda said…
We see very few here - certainly not enough to get the lovely variety of shots that you have.
FAB said…
Superb images Adrienne. I'd be lost without a decent ID guide especially trying to sort out the Damselfly variants. FAB.
Ali said…
I read your post and went and requested the first book from the library. I just love dragonflies and would love to learn more about them, thanks for the recommendations! I was actually watching one fly around our front porch throughout the day today. Not sure what kind, but it was pretty large. It never stayed put long enough for me to get a good look! =)

Popular Posts