Emerald dragonflyion: form-data; name="caption"

Several years ago, when I interviewed Blair Nikula, the main writer and photographer of A Field Guide to the Dragonflies and Damselflies of Massachusetts—the guide that's always in my backpack here in Connecticut—Blair told me that the Emeralds were his favorite group of odonates. Not only were they pretty in a subtle way, but they were also a challenge to find and identify. At this point in my apprenticeship, I've learned to know only a few Emeralds species, but on my Sunday survey trip to the Miner preserve, I discovered that I was farther along than I thought. I spotted a fairly large ode cruising the section of the refuge where the field meets the forest, and when it landed briefly, I was able to get a couple of shots before the critter flew deeper into the woods. I wasn't sure what it was at that point, but when I got home and got a better look at the pictures, I was able to, fairly fast, categorize it as a member of the Somatochlora clan. I'm still not sure whether it's a Mocha or a Williamson's Emerald—I sent this image off to the experts for analysis—but at least I knew its approximate name... and the fact, from the thorn-shaped ovipositor on abdominal segment S10, that it's a female. Sounds like I'm making progress.