Twelve-spotted skimmer

In the past, my daily walks often took me through my neighbor's hay field, but once it fell into the clutches of a developer, I've tended to avoid hiking through the tall grass. But, since the "Private Property—No Trespassing" signs have yet to go up, and since the meadow and woods have not begun to sprout houses, I decided to revisit old friends... and maybe make some new ones. Twelve-spotted Skimmer dragonflies are certainly in the former category, but I hadn't seen them in this particular field, so the sighting was as wonderful as it was unexpected. So was the fact that the odonate, a male with perfect black and white spotted wings, was quite cooperative, as it posed on the end of a plant stem and let me take close-up pictures from every angle. Since his wings are untattered and his abdomen still retains the striping and coloration of a newly-emerged teneral, I could tell that this was a pretty young male, Good luck, guy, and may this field still be here when your kids start flying next May and June.