I was able to get a variety of images of this posing Dragonfly by shifting myself to the left and right and up and down a bit, changing the background.
The red color was created by Mosquito Fern growing on the pond surface behind the Dragonfly and the green was created by Duck Weed.
The Dragonfly was very obliging and struck a classic pose on a dead thorny branch almost at my eye level.
Missing part of a wing didn’t slow this Dragonfly down one bit. He performed the usual lift off, turn and resettle routine on this stick at the edge of a pond-side dike several times.
A little further along the dike I spotted another Dragonfly with a wing tear. These insects are so delicate it is easy to imagine scenarios that would leave them damaged.
A number of dragonflies were zipping back and forth along the tall reads at the edge of a canal bordering old rice fields. This one stood out from the others with a reddish-orange body and wings.
He stopped on a number of stalks quite near the trail I was walking on.
There was a good supply of smaller insects to keep him well fed, although I didn’t see him catch any.
In recent years the dragonflies in our backyard have been nondescript, plain black models, at least as much as I had noticed. This past week we have had a steady procession of dragonflies of different sizes and colors zipping around the yard.
This one worked on some poses on a dried Crepe Myrtle seedpod.
Unlike most of the dragonflies I have photographed this season this one was up at shoulder level for an easy view. And he was on a steady perch, not swaying around on a spindly twig.
Correction: I had identified this as a Blue Dasher Dragonfly. See fellow blogger Mike Powell’s comment below about the ID as a Eastern Pondhawk and its ground behavior. Thanks Mike!
I am seeing dragonflies in all sorts of colors on our treks and even in our back yard. This one was on a berm near a small pond.
It surprised me he was more interested in the dry leaves and pine needles than in hanging out over the water.
