Azure hawker (Orthetrum brunneum) is a pioneer species, that is, one of the first to colonize newly formed habitat. The adult is typically 41 to 49 mm long, and its wingspan measures about 7 cm.
Adult male could not be more aptly named… his body is entirely blue with a slight purplish tint. For him, a pale blue face is characteristic, the entire light-blue thorax and abdomen, and dark, blue-gray eyes. The pigmented cells on the front edge near the tip of the wings (pterostigmas) are red-brown and relatively small in this species.
The sexually mature female is all light brown in color, and her eyes are light blue with a brownish tint. Along the mid-dorsal line from the start to the end of her abdomen runs a thin black line, which on each segment is flanked by two black spots, one on each side.
The azure hawker is a resident of small, not overgrown watercourses, and it does not shun standing water either. As a larva, it primarily lives in decaying organic sediments or mud, which means that poorer water quality does not bother it too much.
The first adults appear in April and fly until September.
