Blue Hawker
(Aeshna cyanea)

The Blue Hawker is a large dragonfly. It occurs throughout Europe but tends to be rare in the South-East and South-West and in the North of Scandinavia. Aeshna cyanea is typically associated with small lakes and garden ponds. The males tend to be very inquisitive and will often fly up to an observer to check them out. The species' most distinguishing features include the brown-and-green thorax and abdomen, the male's blue eye spots, and the uninterrupted coloured bands (blue in the male; green in the female) which cover S9 and S10. In all other European Aeshna species those bands are interrupted by the usual dark dorsal line.

For an overview of the Blue Hawker's distribution in Europe, hover your mouse pointer over the map symbol .
With the authors' permission we have based this map on data published in Kalkman et al. (2010).
Legend: Red = Occurs, White = Doesn't occur; Purple = Extinct; Yellow = Vagrant.

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