Red-viened Darters: here we go again...

[Oscar]

A boat trip to some tiny islets east of Sir Bani Yas yesterday (8th October; other details here: http://www.uaebirding.com/forum/show...-Dhabi-islands) produced at least 20 Red-viened Darters. Like the nightjars they were clinging to any scrap of vegetation available, and 3 out of the 4 islets we checked had them. Again like the nightjars, I suspect we would have found many, many more had we had time to keep checking. Also out there were a few Pantalas and the odd Selysiothemis.

Earlier at Sila I had racked up 5 species of Odonata. These were the usual suspects; mostly Diplacodes and Selysiothemis and a few Crocothemis, Anax parthenope and Orthetrum sabina. No Red-viens!

OSCAR

[khalifa]

Check this Oscar


by mistake i posted this in butterflies instead of dragonflies
http://www.uaebirding.com/forum/show...hp?3131-Darter

[Oscar]

Cheers, Khalifa.
Unless Bob says otherwise, that is one.

It is worth keeping your eyes open for these guys as they are clearly on the move again this autumn. Any dull reddish dragonfly with dark legs, blueish on the bottom half of the eyes and a rather slim body (not swollen and bright, plain, crimson red: that is Crocothemis) and that perches on low vegetation or the ground is likely to be a Red-viened Darter. Until the hundreds last Nov - Dec there were only approximately 5 records in the UAE, so it is well worth recording and posting.

OSCAR

[reimerb]

I have no complaints with the ID ... looks like a Sympetrum fonscolumbii male to me ... possibly on the immature side.