My post to Dale Goble was bounced back, so rather than trying again I'll
send it to you via tweeters, Dale.

I think you're probably talking about Libellula lydia, the Common
Whitetail. I would call the abdomen (the part "behind the second set of
wings") white in this species, but the pruinose bloom (as on a plum) that
overlies the basically brown abdomen in the mature male might also be
described as light blue (purple I don't know, but different people do see
these colors differently). The male of this species is the only NW
dragonfly that has a broad dark band across the middle of each wing, so
that makes the identification undoubted. It's common all across the
continent but is still one of the most impressive dragonflies. I see
there's a record of it from Latah County in Logan's thesis (by the way, did
you ever find out anything more about my getting a copy of that?)

Males are territorial, alternating perching with short flights across their
territory; they do seem to fly slower than some, but try to catch one!
They're not birds, but they have so many of the same attributes as birds,
that it's not too much of a crime to mention them on tweeters (at least
until we get our own Odonata list).

Dennis Paulson, Director phone 206-756-3798
Slater Museum of Natural History fax 206-756-3352
University of Puget Sound e-mail dpaulson at ups.edu
Tacoma, WA 98416