Tombo!

So what do you do when you're out there in the field and no single bird to be found? I turned my attention towards these dragonflies or トンボ(tombo) in Japanese. These charismatic insects roam the fields of Japan during summer and autumn. Though not so many different species are commonly seen, most of them are pretty colourful and enjoyable to take photos of. I luckily have a colleague who's specialised in dragonfly, so I sent him these photos and he gave me the identification of each individual. Interesting that most of these species of dragonflies can also be found in Thailand as well. I find that most insects have much wider ranges of distribution than birds. The one in the first picture here is a female Orthetrum triangulare melania or Blue-tailed Forest Hawk; the male is actually black and blue, instead of yellow.

PS. I also got the identification for the beautiful blue-rumped dragonfly I've photographed in this post. It is Anax parthenope julius or Lesser Emperor. Its Japanese name is ギンヤンマ(Ginyanma), written in kanji like this 銀蜻蜒; what a complicated Chinese character. I've yet to get any photo of the species this year.

Crocothemis servilia mariannae / Sieboldius albardae / Orthetrum cf. albistylum speciosum / O. triangulare melania