Electric Blue on the Arroyo Path

Maicol González was walking the arroyo path on cerro El Peligro when something blue stopped him in his tracks. Perched on a dry twig, nearly still amid the noise of the forest, sat a damselfly of such brilliant blue it seemed lit from some other light entirely. He photographed it right there — rocks and dry leaves just softly out of focus behind it, the insect in absolute command of the frame. The record belongs to the order Odonata, suborder Zygoptera — the damselflies, more delicate cousins of the dragonflies. Given the intensity of the coloration, the genus could be Argia or Enallagma, two groups common across the Colombian Caribbean, though a specialist will need to confirm the exact species. What is certain is that its presence speaks well of the nearby arroyo: these insects only thrive where the water runs clean and the ecosystem holds together.