The first Fawn Darner

The kitchen-porch lights have been very productive, and with the All-Star Game in progress—a game that was great but didn't leave me glued to the TV—I went outside often to see whether any intriguing insects had arrived. It was warm and very muggy, and every so often you could hear the start of the cricket, katydid, and annual cicada concert, but what really drew my attention was the rustle of wings in the open light-fixture. When the creature calmed down and caught its breath, I could see at a glance that it was a Fawn Darner dragonfly. Boyeria vinosa, one of the first darners I got to know by name, is a splendid and beautiful ode whose field-mark is a pair of bright yellow spots on the thorax. Those, coupled with its behavior—the Fawn Darner is crepuscular, often seen cruising around the house at twilight and sometimes arriving out of the pitch dark—make it unmistakeable. It's an obliging model, and this one posed on the light, on the shingles, on the leaves of the Boston Fern, and, for a while, on my fingertips. Unfortunately, I didn't have the right lens on the camera to capture that happy pose. With any luck, I'll get the shot later in the season.