Erythemis simplicicollis
In 3 days ~30% in a week ~60%
Erythemis simplicicollis, the eastern pondhawk, also known as the common pondhawk, is a dragonfly of the family Libellulidae, native to the eastern two-thirds of the United States and southern Ontario and Quebec, Canada. It is a dragonfly of ponds and still waters. The species is distinguished in that the female is bright green with a banded abdomen and the mature male has a blue abdomen with a green face and green and blue thorax.
Nymphs of the eastern pondhawk are identifiable by their green eyes. When they leave the water and moult for the final time, the emerging immature adult is dull olive green but over the course of a few hours, the abdomen becomes bright green, there is dark brown banding and the heads take on a metallic green sheen. Over the course of their adult lives the green of the male is gradually transformed into a duller shade of blue and finally a powdery bluish-grey. The wings are distinctively veined and have dark margins near the apices. The length of this dragonfly is 36 to 48 mm (1.4 to 1.9 in).
The eastern pondhawk is native to parts of North America and Central America. Its range includes the provinces of Ontario and Quebec... Wikipedia →
| # | Park | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Everglades National Park | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 2 | Big Cypress National Preserve | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 3 | Point Pelee National Park | 🇨🇦 Canada | |
| 4 | Biotopo Cerro Cahuí | 🇬🇹 Guatemala | |
| 5 | Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 6 | Congaree National Park | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 7 | Padre Island National Seashore | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 8 | Lago de Yojoa | 🇭🇳 Honduras | |
| 9 | Big Bend National Park | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 10 | Acadia National Park | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 11 | Shenandoah National Park | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 12 | Great Smoky Mountains National Park | 🇺🇸 United States |
| # | City | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Austin | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 2 | Houston | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 3 | Dallas | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 4 | Orlando | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 5 | Miami | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 6 | Washington | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 7 | Boston | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 8 | Baltimore | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 9 | Toronto | 🇨🇦 Canada | |
| 10 | Minneapolis [Saint Paul] | 🇺🇸 United States |
With luck
About 10% of wildlife watchers report an Eastern Pondhawk sighting in Padre Island National Seashore on a given day, based on 18 verified sightings from GBIF citizen-science data from 2019 to 2026. It is the 21st most-seen of the 74 insects we can rate there. Over three days the chance rises to about 30%, and over a week to about 60%, if each day is a fresh chance.
August and September
In those months about 30% of wildlife watchers report an Eastern Pondhawk in Padre Island National Seashore on a given day, against under 5% in July and November–February, the lowest months.
Between 10 am and 1 pm
Across all the parks we cover, that three-hour window holds the most Eastern Pondhawk sightings with a recorded time, and about 9 in 10 of them come between 6 am and 6 pm: it is a daytime animal.
7th of 12
Of the 12 parks where we can rate Eastern Pondhawk sightings, Padre Island National Seashore ranks 7th at about 10%. The best odds are in Everglades National Park (United States, about 40%), Big Cypress National Preserve (United States, about 30%) and Point Pelee National Park (Canada, about 30%).
Same family: Libellulidae
The closest relatives of the Eastern Pondhawk that you can see in Padre Island National Seashore (family Libellulidae, Skimmers) are Red Saddlebags (about 20%), Band-Winged Dragonlet (about 20%) and Variegated Meadowhawk (about 20%), with each one's daily chance of a sighting.
GBIF citizen-science records
It is estimated from how often the Eastern Pondhawk is recorded against all the insects logged in Padre Island National Seashore (18 verified sightings from 2019 to 2026), calibrated against known sighting rates. Figures are rounded to the nearest 10% because citizen-science data supports honest approximations, not decimals, and months with records from fewer than five people show "—". How it works.
