Actually this is a Blue-Eyed Darner (Aeshna multicolour), but for most of us he’s a dragonfly. I was visiting Ten Mile Lake, near Quesnel BC and was drawn to the attention of three or four of these guys by the loud buzzing of one of them stuck doing the backstroke in the lake. His wings had become waterlogged and he could not right himself to get clear of the water. Instinctively I reached in and scooped him out, placing him the right way up he quickly hovered over to the nearby reeds and rested in the sun to dry out and regain his strength. Darners are the largest of BC’s dragonflies and the females are more commonly green or yellow and brown rather than blue. Whatever their colour, these dragonflies are good friends to have around – one of their favourite foods is the mosquito!
