Appetites

1.
I returned to the small pond today, hoping to see the Unicorn Clubtail. I did, but it dodged me and my camera. I am ravenous for new odonates.

2.
One new sight I wish I hadn't seen was an emergent Comet Darner, whose abdomen never fully emerged from the exuvia. All of the mature color had already set it, indicating the darner had been there some time. I wonder if I will see it again tomorrow, or if, by then, someone will have eaten it.

3.
This Amber-winged Spreadwing snagged breakfast and ate it quickly as I filmed it. All gone within just a couple of minutes. He looks small and thin, but the fuel he requires for the hard work of flying and mating is large, as his appetite.

Even on a Day without Sun

it's easy to be surprised, stunned even, by the beauty of the world as it is, even when it isn't as it should be or as one might like it.

I am grateful for small gifts.

Blues on Parade

Slaty Skimmer and Sky Water

Old Female Slaty Skimmer

Male Southern Spreadwing

Double-ringed Pennant

Male Amber-winged Spreadwing and Sky Water

Blue Dasher

Stillness

The pond
in morning
teems
with hawking
defending
attacking
mating
ovipositing.
Frogs yelp and splash,
one green heron ack-acks,
and a small airplane
flies over, out and back,
sightseeing, I suppose.

That's what I was doing:
seeing the sights,
including this female
Amber-winged Spreadwing,
contentedly
steadily
hanging from a branch
tipped by a Slaty Skimmer,
Auzure Bluet,
and Blue Dasher.
The dragonflies push
off, bouncing the branch,
but she remains still.

I still approach,
close enough to
make eye contact.

Even a poor photograph

of a much sought-after insect begins a day well.

Behold: the male Amber-winged Spreadwing!

Limitations

1.
I really want to see one of those Amber-winged Spreadwings! I surprised myself by saying this aloud, despite my being alone.

I stepped across the spongy pond shore, still wet and muddy after morning rain.

And then I saw him: flying up from the water, large and baby blue, then hanging from one of the grasses. As soon as I slid my camera across my chest, he flitted up into the tree branches and then beyond, out of sight.

2.
After searching for another, I climbed out of the pond, walked down the old farm road, and re-entered on the opposite shore. I immediately saw another male spreadwing, but once again as I approached, he flew away.

Taunting me, he hung from grass in the water, just beyond the reach of my camera.

3.
The camera is limited by distance.

4.
I am limited in making a sneak-attack by the necessity of movement.

5.
The Amber-winged Spreadwing is limited by the length of his adulthood, during which he is driven to reproduce.

In Just Ten Days

four new Odonate species seen, photographed, and verified by experts. That makes 34 distinct dragonfly species and 20 distinct damselfly species.

Arrowhead Spiketail at Lake Cheston

Painted Skimmer at Lake O'Donnell

Southern Sprite at Lake Dimmick

Amber-winged Spreadwing at Lake Dimmick