Ebony Jewelwing Damselfly

About the Ebony Jewelwing Damselfly

The Ebony Jewelwing is the damselfly that makes people who "don't care about bugs" stop and stare. Males are pure extravagance: a metallic emerald-and-sapphire body paired with wholly black wings -- the only damselfly in our area with wings that dark -- flopping through the shade of a woodland creek like a scrap of black silk. Females are bronzy with smoky wings tipped by a neat white spot.

Unlike most damselflies, jewelwings fly with a slow, fluttering, almost butterfly-like wingbeat, and they stick to dappled shade along slow streams -- exactly the places a summer walk wants to linger anyway. Males court by flicking those black wings open and shut from streamside perches and will spiral after rivals in flashing chases over the water.

This one was photographed on September 10, 2026, along a shaded creek at Hornsby Bend, holding a low perch in a patch of sun -- the classic jewelwing pose.

Shade is the challenge and the reward: meter for the sunlit wing and let the background woods fall dark, and the metallic body glows like stained glass. They return to the same few perches over and over, so patience beats pursuit.