Harlequin darner

When I started this endeavor seven years ago—merciful heavens, time has flown!—it was envisioned as a way to highlight something intriguing, both biologically and photographically, that I'd discovered on my daily walks. I'm still walking, but more than occasionally, I don't have to travel very far to find something worth noting. Here's a case in point: I hadn't even gotten more than part way down my driveway on this gorgeous morning when I noticed a glint of sunlight on a dragonfly that had landed on our wooden lamp-post. The odonate was clearly a Darner type, based on the way the enormous eyes met in a seam and the way it hung straight down on the post. (Normally, they hang from a branch or a tree trunk.) The stockier build suggested a female, and the dark gray eyes said newly metamorphosed teneral... i.e., it had just left its larval case behind. The colors and markings were wild, and while I'm pretty knowledgeable about Darner identity, this beauty, I had to admit, had me shaking my head. I figured I'd have to call in the troops, but additional study had me feeling on more certain grounds that I'd been visited by a fresh-faced Harlequin Darner. No question about where it picked up the common name.