The Fittest (while wishing I still had the rental camera with macro lens)

Last year, when I first saw a dragonfly exuvia (think "shell" or discarded "skin") on a daisy about fifteen feet from the water, I was surprised.

Today I was astonished.

At least twenty feet from the water -- over mud and dirt and stones and rocks, up a hill, and under a tree -- a Common Baskettail scuttled and then latched onto a grass stem to begin the arduous, tenuous task of becoming an adult.

No wonder, I thought, these insects have lived for millions of years, and I watched, and watched, and watched.

the dragonfly is below the evergreen in the shade

 the dragonfly is in the first row of grass below the tree