Several hundred million years ago, giant dragonflies, with wingspans exceeding two feet, patrolled the steamy and oxygen-enhanced Carboniferous-era skies and landscape. Those fright-provoking insects may be long gone, save in fossils and museum recreations, but there's an echo of terror in their modern ancestors, particularly in a group of dragonflies known as the Dragonhunters. Hagenius brevistylus is our giant odonate, but this is relative, since its wingspan is more on the order of, at most, a half-foot. Still, these are impressive beasts, and true lords of the air. They eat just about every other species of dragonfly, and they're quite happy to extend the menu to moths, butterflies, and any other insect the powerful predators can capture. As the top rung of the dragonfly food chain, they're not all that common, but the stream below the millpond dam has long been reliable Dragonhunter territory, and every year at this time, I start making daily visits in search of the stunning beasts. I actually spotted one yesterday, but it was not cooperative. This afternoon, H. brevistylus decided that a photo op was OK and settled in on a perch a few feet above the stream to survey its realm—and give me great shots from close range.