Aurora Spreadwing damselfly

Despite the title, this entry will not be especially salacious. Sorry for the tease. (And hey, you can read the salacious part in my memoir, when I get to it.) Rather, what the headline refers to is a happy occasion in my odonate learning curve: the first time that I've ever identified a damselfly on my own. This one turned out to be tricky, since, when I first spotted it in the weeds by the millpond, I assumed, because of the way it held its wings, that it belonged to a damselfly group call the "spreadwings." I've had help in coming up with an ID for a few spreadwing species, but when I looked at this damsel in my various guidebooks, and compared it to pictures, it didn't match. Then I remembered a species that also spreads its wings at rest but is classified in the Bluet group of damsels. It's called an Aurora, and the giveaway field mark in the yellow wedge underneath the thorax. Sure enough, there it is, so maybe I can learn the damselflies after all.