Red-Veined Darter? (1 Viewer)

[John P]

I've read the book and studied various pics until my veins feel redder than this Dragon's, but I still can't decide whether or not it's a Red-veined Darter.

 

[pdwinter]

Hi John

It's a Common Darter. Your front on shot is good because you can see that no black goes down the side of the frons. Although the pterostigmas appear yellowish in one photo the other shows that they are red. Also in a RVD of this maturity the red over blue eyes would be very apparent.

HTH, Paul

 

[username]

Hi John

It's a Common Darter. Your front on shot is good because you can see that no black goes down the side of the frons. Although the pterostigmas appear yellowish in one photo the other shows that they are red. Also in a RVD of this maturity the red over blue eyes would be very apparent.

HTH, Paul

That about covers it Paul!

....[John....i can see why you were uncertain]!

ps...John...if you get to hear of any newly emerged RVD's in your area you must go and have a look at them....they truly are stunning creatures....probably better looking than the adults!

 

[John P]

Thanks; I'd checked the frons and the eyes and leg colour, it's the red veining in the wings which is confusing me.

Do Common Darters always have this?

I've seen quite a few very similar to this but with just plain wings which I'd thought were Common Darters, or have I been mis-I'D-ing those?

 

[Adey Baker]

Thanks; I'd checked the frons and the eyes and leg colour, it's the red veining in the wings which is confusing me.

Do Common Darters always have this?

I've seen quite a few very similar to this but with just plain wings which I'd thought were Common Darters, or have I been mis-I'D-ing those?

It's the way the strong sunlight is catching the wings: http://www.birdforum.net/gallery/showphoto.php/photo/154686/ppuser/1805

Get the sun behind you and you won't notice it

 

[pdwinter]

Hi John

(Not trying to cause confusion but ) I've attached a couple of pics of how different the wings of a male Common Darter can look. In the righthand pic you can see some red/yellow veins which would get emphasized if the sun was behind the dragon rather than me.

Over the past week or so when we've had some sun and I've been walking down Iley Lane (Lower Pennington end) I've seen quite a few Common Darters perched up high in hedges and not looking too dissimilar to your pic.

Cheers, Paul

 

[John P]

Thanks again, Iley Lane is exactly where these pics were taken Paul.

Just as an aside, I thought (briefly) one day last week that I'd discovered a new species, there was a Common Darter sitting on a white stone near the pond where I'm working and the very strong sunlight was casting a perfect shadow of the wings on the stone, it looked for all the world like an eight winged Dragon.