I spent some time around a pond in my local garden yesterday and noticed all the dragonflies flitting around. If you’ve ever tried to photograph these winged insects, you’ve probably noticed how difficult it is. They don’t seem to stay in one place very long. But one thing I did notice is that they tend to come back to the same spot they were just at seconds ago. They will do this over and over, again. I don’t know why that is. So I just took a seat on the ground (literally) and waited. I didn’t have to wait long. Here’s some images of a Common Whitetail Skimmer.

I cropped this image to get a better look at him.

Common Whitetail Skimmer

One can obviously see why these dragonflies are called Whitetails. Males will flash their long, white tails at other males when they get too close to their boundaries. I saw a lot of this going on. The female has a brown tail.

The other species of dragonfly I saw lots of were the Meadowhawk Dragonfly. The males have a bright red tail. They aren’t as large as the Whitetail Skimmers, though.

I’ll keep my eye out for other colorful dragonfly species and hope they will sit still long enough for me to get a photo, or find one hovering in the air just long enough to get a shot that way, as well.

Meadowhawk Dragonfly

All photos property of Peggy A Thompson