Synthemis eustalacta

Swamp Tigertail at Acton, ACT

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Identification history

	Synthemis eustalacta	5 Apr 2020	HarveyPerkins
	Adversaeschna brevistyla	4 Apr 2020	BIrdsinCanberra

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User's notes

Sorry, the photo is from Jan and I am just uploading it now. The dragonfly was flying up and down a stretch of Sullivans Creek, occasionally flying at other dragonflies, even those of other species, but no mating observed.

2 comments

HarveyPerkins wrote:

5 Apr 2020

Hi - the photos here are clearly of a male Swamp Tigertail, perched in characteristic pose. Your comment above, does, however, sound much like the behaviour of a Blue-spotted Hawker; although it could fit a Swamp Tigertail if the distances involved are relatively small (e.g.2-4 m) and the flight was essentially around a small section of heavily vegetated creek. A Blue-spotted Hawker would fly faster, higher, more directly, and over much larger distances (e.g 10-50 m, or even more, up and down the creek line). Given the time between sighting and posting, is there any chance you could be confusing two dragonflies that you saw?

BIrdsinCanberra wrote:

6 Apr 2020

Hi Harvey, Many thanks for your comments and the clarification. Yes, you are probably right. I thought I saw this dragonfly moving up and down the creek and was only able to get a shot once it stopped but I could be mistaken. It just seemed all the dragonflies I was looking at were doing much the same but they were flying too fast, and with too many turns, for me to truly know which one was doing what. Many thanks for the correct identification. The variety of dragonflies confuses me, especially when there are colour variations, but I do enjoy the challenge of photographing them. Again, many thanks for all that additional detail, that was really interesting. All the best.

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