Well, this is it: my first dragonfly photo of the year. I’ve seen loads of dragonflies, but I am often busy teaching when I am at the pond and never seem to have a chance to get photos. I got this shot one day when the system locked me out of my computer at work and I needed to kill some time while I waited for it to be unlocked. Took it with the entirely wrong kind of camera too, but it turned out alright. I give you the common whitetail:
Common whitetail, Plathemis lydia
This is, as the name suggests, a truly common species in the US. We have dozens of males flying around the pond each day while many females stalk prey on the prairie. But, they are spectacular! They might be common as dirt, but how can anyone tire of seeing something that beautiful?
Speaking of dragonflies, I got some fun photos over the weekend that I’m eager to share. Look for them soon!
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The Dragonfly Woman 
Gorgeous shot. Yes, not tiring at all seeing dragonflies of any kind, ever. :)
Glad to hear it! :)
Reblogged this on selma16.
That’s a great picture. Seen my first dragonfly of the year last Sunday, a small one!
Even if it’s small, I’m sure it was exciting! Small dragonflies are STILL amazing!
OMG, I cannot believe it, I too, snapped a pic of the same variety of dragonfly while visiting at my parents over this past weekend. Both mother and I cannot say that we have ever seen this variety before. We probably weren’t really looking. Great shot.
Well, I hope you see more then! They’re SUPER common in many places in the US, so you will likely see more if you keep an eye out for them.
Enjoyed that. At a marshland/wildlife refuge several bluebottles landed on my hand. It was quite a lovely experience.
Is what you call a bluebottle a type of dragonfly, as I’m assuming? When I think of bluebottles, I think of bluebottle flies, which I doubt you would be quite as excited about having on your hand. :)
I believe it is a dragonfly but…now I’m not sure. I could send you a photo of it on my hand if you’d like and then could identify it for me! Lovely delicate creatures.
Sure! You can either post it to my Facebook page (link on the sidebar) or send it to my e mail. I’m on g mail, thedragonfywoman.
This is one of my favorite insects to watch! I always picture them as attack helicopters, I don’t know why, where or when that association was formed though. Either way that is a a very unique looking dragonfly. Great shot! Thanks for sharing.
Glad to hear that they’re one of your favorites! And the attack helicopter image is a lot better than the cute little dainty insect image a lot of people have, as far as I’m concerned at least. It’s much more accurate!