Delta-spotted Spiketail

When I was a kid, my mom, who was no real fan of the natural world, told me that dragonflies, which she called "darning needles," were to be avoided since they had the nasty habit of sewing your lips together. Point well taken! And one of my origin stories that make it pretty hard to understand how I ever came under the spell of odonates. This critter, known as a Delta-spotted Spiketail, certainly helped me to overcome any reticence about enjoying dragonflies from close range. Spiketails really are a kind of darner, since the females lay their eggs in the shallows by pushing their abdomens into the mud in the manner of a sewing machine. Imagine what they could do to your lips! Well, nothing, of course. What they can do is mesmerize the viewer, since they're so gloriously striking. I found this one sunning on a grass stem in the meadow across the street, and I sang a Hallelujah at the unexpected sight—spiketails are pretty uncommon around here—as I moved in fearlessly for a series of closer and closer close-ups. Sometimes, I'm glad I didn't take my mom's advice and neuroses too much to heart. I don't want to imagine what I would have missed—spiketails, in particular.