Early Ebony

This is not the first of the Ebony Jewelwing damselflies to pay us a visit—they've been on the wing, the dark wing, for almost a week now—but this shot is perhaps the most worthy since these iridescent gems starting emerging from larvahood in the water around our ridge. I'll no doubt get many more pictures, for these jewelwings are very common and very accommodating about holding a pose. I love to capture them when the sun is turning those two parallel fine lines on their slender abdomens to gold, and as the morning light did its job, the damselfly held still—a perfect model. Unlike many odonates that would have made a rapid escape when I tried to move in for a close-up, this guy just stood his ground, or, rather, held his leaf. I won't go so far as to say that he enjoyed, even sought, the attention. But he clearly didn't mind the approach of the insect paparazzi.