Four-spotted Pennant Dragonfly

About the Four-spotted Pennant Dragonfly

The Four-spotted Pennant is a medium-sized dragonfly named for the four dark spots along the front edge of its wings - one at the base and one near the tip of each wing - set against otherwise clear wings with a white stigma. Mature males are dark blue-black overall; females and young males are browner with amber-tinged wing bases.

Pennants get their name from their perching habit: they cling to the very tip of a tall stem or twig over the water and stream out in the wind like a small flag. Four-spotted Pennants patrol open water from those perches, sallying out after small insects and returning to the same stem, which makes them cooperative subjects once you find the perch.

In Texas the Four-spotted Pennant is common at ponds and lakes across the eastern two-thirds of the state from late spring through fall - the wastewater ponds at Hornsby Bend, with their emergent stems and open water, are classic habitat.