Meadowhawk

Any dragonflies still on the wing last week were, most likely, done in by the killer frost that arrived on Halloween morning... or were they? With temperatures recently on the Indian Summer rise over the past few days, I headed out to some venues by the wetlands to see if any odes had somehow survived. With afternoon temps approaching 70, I had a pretty good idea that I'd find a survivor or two, and in short order, on the railing of an observation platform fronting the Assekonk Swamp, I spotted a pair of quite happy and energetic meadowhawks, which, around here, are the hardiest of hardies... and the hardest dragonflies to separate out into species. This one is presumably the Autumn Meadowhawk, which is typically the last ode flying around here. It somehow knows where to hide from frost's reach, and, no doubt, it carries some sort of cold protection. Its hardiness means it now is the odonate standard-bearer, perhaps into December.