Eastern Amberwing in flight
Perithemis tenera
Eastern Amberwing · Brooklyn Botanic Garden · 26 July 2026
An Eastern Amberwing in the air in the July border, banking away from a stand of burnet spikes. Amberwings are dragonflies of ponds and slow water across the eastern United States, one of the smallest in North America, and they perch more than they patrol.
They use a favourite stem as a lookout between short sallies after passing insects and return to more or less the same spot each time, which makes them more cooperative subjects than dragonflies that hold a long beat over open water. A wasp mimic: the amber wings and banded body, and a habit of pumping the abdomen at rest, fool most predators.
Birds, insects, plants and other wildlife, mostly from Brooklyn, with some from further afield.
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