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Cherry Bluet (Enallagma concisum)

What’s Next – Early April

The Red Edition

April 3, 2019  |  by Bryan Pfeiffer  |  18 comments  | 

Well, okay, that little damselfly above — it’s not really what’s next for you this spring. At least not for most of you.

That’s a Cherry Bluet (Enallagma concisum), which I photographed in a pond in the Florida Panhandle a few days ago. We find these lovely damselflies in sand-bottomed lakes and ponds, usually with emergent vegetation and lily pads, in scattered locations across the American southeast from Louisiana to North Carolina.

A mating pair of Cherry Bluets (Enallagma concisum)

But it’s a fitting addition to my What’s Next series because red is a theme as springtime moves forward into April. Although snow still covers much of my home state of Vermont, I’m here in the Southeast to assure you all: fear not — red is on the way.

You’ll find fifty shades of red in the sepals and anthers of tree flowers bursting into bloom across the forests of New England. You’ll find it erupting on twigs of Beaked Hazelnut, which is something you must not miss as you walk the muddy paths this month. You’ll find it blazing from the pate of Ruby-crowned Kinglets, which are now singing here in the Southeast. And you’ll find it among a few butterflies, including Milbert’s Tortoiseshells now on the wing for early-spring romance.

To be sure, the non-red joys of April are arriving on schedule to northern New England and points beyond: Merlin, Eastern Phoebe, Hermit Thrush, along with other things I predicted in the mid March and late March editions of What’s Next.

But for now, I’ll leave you with a bit more of “What’s Red” here in the Southeast. Your best bet (besides actually getting outside in the grace of these animals) would be to click any image to start your full-screen slideshow.

Onward toward the green!

18 comments
  1. Brian Hicks says:

    Stunning images Bryan!

  2. Suzanne Wiedel-Pace says:

    Great photos. I wonder what sort of lens you were using on these close ups which are so perfect and show the delicacy of the subjects in perfect detail.

  3. Sally Edwards says:

    I enjoyed the photos and your blog. Photos are superb!

  4. Ruth EInstein says:

    Hard to believe that the maples will redden in the next month. I do think spring will come here too!!

  5. Dean Grover says:

    Bryan, the light you capture in your photos is stunning, especially that Cherry Bluet.

    I think I know your secret. You carry a sun rheostat to turn up the brightness just before the shot 🙂

    However you do it, viewing these images is a treat. Thank you.

  6. Joan Thompson says:

    Speaking of red, a Common Redpoll, the first of the entire seasontoday 4/3/19 at OBH.
    Your reds are gorgeous!

  7. Bernie says:

    Red is rapturous in the Southwest now. Green will invite your gregarious nature back to Vermont soon, we hope!

    Thank You for the splash of colors
    reminding us to not only to
    stop, look up (at rainbows, birds migrating to us)
    but also down and around
    for nature holds a wider palette of diverse paints
    than we have words to describe – the color and our emotions upon seeing them.

  8. Judy Brook says:

    Oh, Bryan, these are absolutely stunning! Thank you. I’m into BLUE, like the heron I saw Sunday in an ephemeral pasture pond here in VT.

  9. Diana says:

    Your spectacular photographs have woken me up to what’s about to happen up here in the North! Especially that Ornate Pennant. So gorgeous. Thanks. I needed that!

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