Common Whitetail Dragonfly

As the name denotes, the adult males of the Common Whitetail Dragonfly are easily distinguishable from other dragonfly species by their brilliantly white tails. This individual is a juvenile male and as such has not yet developed his tail coloration. The females have a smaller brown abdomen and a different wing pattern.

They all feed mainly on mosquitoes (yay!), along riverbanks and other bodies of water. Gohn Greene Farms is only about a mile from Lake Oconee so there is plenty of water nearby. The dragonfly nymphs feed on mosquito nymphs, adult dragonflies feed on adult mosquitoes. The more dragonflies, the less mosquitoes. The males are especially territorial over the best feeding areas. They each maintain about a 50 to 100 foot stretch of bank along the waters edge and defend it against intrusions of other dragonflies.

When a male common whitetail sees another male common whitetail he will raise his abdomen as a warning to the other dragonfly. The larger, whiter abdomens belong to the dominant males. They will often fly into each other to defend their territories for feeding and breeding.

Breeding, even if you have the biggest whitest abdomen, only takes about 3 seconds. Following which the female swoops down to the water surface and quickly deposits hundreds, possibly even a thousand eggs. Hopefully all of those eggs will hatch and begin feeding on mosquitoes ASAP!