What is that lovely, small blue dragonfly I see in the stream beds? The Common Blue Jewel.

What is that lovely, small blue dragonfly I see in the stream beds? The Common Blue Jewel. Brilliant blue, sometimes with a dash of pink, often perched on rocks or flying close to others in a mating and territorial pattern, this is aptly named Stream Sapphire, or Common Blue Jewel, ( Rhinocypha perforate).

The male easy is to identify with its distinct blue thoracic (between neck and abdomen) marks. The prothorax has a pink/purple mark and the abdomen is black with blue marks on each segment. Often seen in summer as mating pairs in flight.