Seaside Dragonlet, Stewart Mac salt marsh

Following my latest twice-yearly visit with my cardiologist—nothing untoward to report, praise the Lord—I rewarded good behavior with a trek to the Stewart McKinney National Wildlife Refuge in Westbrook. It was exceedingly hot, but I knew I'd be mostly in the shade on the hike through the woods, so I didn't have to worry about heat stroke and too much sun exposure on the first day of freedom from anti-Lyme antibiotics. I needed a little bit of time in the light, because high on my agenda was finding a most unusual odonate: the Seaside Dragonlet. This member of the Skimmer clan is a Stewart Mac specialty, and, in the summer, I almost always find at least one or two at the edge of the refuge salt marsh. Erythrodiplax berenice is our only small ode with the ability to thrive in saline environments, and it didn't let me down today, as it scanned its world from a happily photogenic perch atop a stalk of salt hay.