The Seedy Side of Nature

The Boyo and I went for a quick walk around the yard today, just to see what we could see. With his excellent sight, he spotted this guy...

cruising around by our marshy area. He buzzed around for a bit and let us get some shots. He should be easy to find again, as his front starboard (right)wing looks a little injured. Did I mention that I love my camera? It turns this...

into this...

We were just about to head in when this flew past and landed in the tall grass...

I think it's a Common Green Darner, and is huge for a dragonfly. Three inches long.

I'm also pretty sure it's a male, though I only have a few reference photos to go by, and very few look like this one.
As for our red friend, it could be a Cherry-faced Meadowhawk or a Ruby Meadowhawk. My new friends over at MOSP inform me that the only way to be sure of the ID is to catch it and look at its genitalia.  That's right. I gotta check his junk. Fortunately one of the pros sent me some diagrams of what to look for to ID them. Odonata porn as it were.

Now I just have to figure out a way to catch the little sucker.  He is FAST!

And yes, I am going for an entire month of posts focusing only on dragonflies.

More Later