River Jewelwing at Bidgood's Park

 I went for my walk in Goulds this morning. Both yesterday and today, I let two good birds get away without identification. Thank goodness for other surprises.

 I spotted this amazing damselfly along the boardwalk at Bidgood's Park. I watched it for awhile from a distance, and I was really hoping I wasn't going to have to step into the marsh to get to it.

 Its flash of wings was phenomenal. It is too bad I don't have a shot of open wings. My patience paid off after more than 30 minutes of tracking it.

 It came closer and closer and often kept its eyes peeled on me. These pictures are not altered in any way other than cropping. These are the actual colors of this creature.

This damselfly is very similar to the Sparkling Jewelwing which is more common in the southern U.S. and the Banded Demoiselle (male) of Europe. After studying the images online, I concluded this is a River Jewelwing, even though Newfoundland is not within its normal range. It is known to be most frequent from B.C. to Nova Scotia and uncommon to Newfoundland.

 I got more pictures of different insects this morning, but this one just had to be showcased alone.