Musicroom's Imaging: Blue Marsh Hawk Female

Description

Blue Marsh Hawk or Orthetrum glaucum is an Asian dragonfly species, common across much of tropical and subtropical Asia, and capable of thriving in disturbed habitats.A medium sized dragonfly with bluish black thorax and blue tail.

Size: Male: Abdomen: 29-35mm, Hind wing: 33-40mm.Female: Abdomen:28- 32mm, Hind wing: 32-37mm. Male:Face is pale olivaceous brown in young adults changing to glossy black in old individuals. Eyes: Dark green and is capped with reddish brown. Thorax: In old individuals it is dark dull blue or black with fine black blue or black hair. Legs: Black. Wings: Transparent, with extreme base tinted with dark amber yellow. In old adults, wings are smoky brown. Wing spot: Dark reddish brown. Abdomen: Bulged at segments 1-3. Segments 1- 8 are pruinosed pale blue and the remaining segments black.

Female:Thorax: Olivaceous above bordered by a broad reddish brown lateral stripe. Lateral side is reddish brown with two yellowish-white narrow stripes. Legs: Black externally and yellow internally. Wings: Similar to that of males. Abdomen: Reddish brown with a broad greenish yellow middorsal stripe. Segments 8-10 are black middorsally.

Behavior, feeding and habitat

It is commonly found in the marshes associated with forest streams, plantations and canals. They breed in marshes. They are seen actively flying in May to October and are widely distributed in the Oriental region. It breeds in ponds, drains, ditches and other open lentic habitats.

Brightly yellow-ish dragonfly caught my attention in the garden in mid-day, when it had just stopped raining and the sun came out of the clouds to spread warmth. It almost stayed static and gave me these many poses, some of which are full-frame and others are cropped to 1/4th of the frame. My Canon EF 300mm F4L IS USM + Tamron 1.4x extender on my Canon EOS 7D SLR, is a great tool for close-ups of dragonflies and butterflies. My Aperture was f13, ISO 1250, EV -2, with a handsome shutter speed, enough to freeze any movements that this dragonfly may make..