First Spinyleg

This has been a funny year for dragonflies, and, while I have no real scientific way of proving this, I think my sightings numbers are down. At least, they feel down, and at places like the millpond, Bell Cedar, and at Henne, the diversity seems down as well. Such commoners as the Harlequin Darners, which have been a spring reliable, barely put in an appearance. The Blue Corporals I'd been monitoring at Lantern Hill Pond never showed. And an early July stalwart, a clubtail called the Black-shouldered Spinyleg, was conspicuous in its persistent absence at my observation rock at the edge of the millpond. I haven't been observing long enough to know if there's any trend starting, and I wonder if the colder-than-usual winter had anything to do with what may or may not be a temporary drop. But just when I was beginning to figure that we'd get no Spinylegs this year, I found one on the rocks near the bottom of the waterfall. It wasn't particularly cooperative about posing, and the light wasn't the best, but the shot certainly captures the classic clubtail characteristics and diagnostic markings. So from a documentation perspective, the five-second encounter will do just fine. Dromogomphus spinosus lives. Praise be.