Fast Flyer

The female Broad-bodied libélula     Libellula depressa  

The young male also looks like this female but the mature male is blue. I know this one is a female because I saw it mating.Although the female  is classified as being brown, she was decidedly more yellow looking than brown, with lighter yellow markings down sides of her abdomen. 

This fast flying darter alighted on a garden marker, which is near the fish pond especially for this purpose. It attracts all kinds of dragonflies to it's warm wooden surface. She seemed to be waiting ( perhaps for a mate) and thankfully  a male  appeared the next day. As I took too many photos for one post, I will show you the male of the species on my next post.

 

 She left the marker only a few times to hunt, but always returned to the same place. She looked in my direction several times, but my close proximity didn't seem to bother her. I think she had other things on her mind!:))


 

Although I didn't noticed she may even have started her existence in the pond, as and they do prefere to breed in garden ponds or similar bodies of water.


 

Both the male and the female have very broad abdómens, and all wings are brown at the base.

 

The wing span is (76mm) and the length is 45 mm. It's not a large dragonfly but it's a pretty little thing, especially when  the wings shimmer in the bright sunlight.