During a nice walk around Wageningen in the Netherlands with beautiful weather, my wife went for a ‘pit stop’ into a hotel. Hubby could wait. That turned out to be no punishment. There was a beautiful male specimen of the Ruddy darter (Sympetrum sanguineum) posing. He asked to be photographed. Unfortunately, my wife had to wait a while after returning, now hubby was busy for a while…!

You can see the Ruddy darter from June to October. The male is very similar to the male of Scarlet dragonfly (Crocothemis erythraea), both are beautifully colored red. Most recognizable difference is the color of the eyes: the Ruddy darter has brown eyes, while the of Scarlet dragonfly has red eyes. Also, the Ruddy darter has black legs, while the legs of the of Scarlet dragonfly have the same red of the body, without black. There are other differences, but these are the easiest to recognize.

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