I don’t expect to see new species of dragonflies at this time of the year, but one of my fellow photographers, Walter Sanford, has been stalking the Blue-faced Meadowhawk (Sympetrum ambiguum) almost daily and I joined him for a few hours one late September day and got this shot.
I learned quickly that these dragonflies are hard to spot, despite their conspicuous coloration. They seem to like to remain perched down low in the vegetation and wait for their prey, rather than fly around when they are hunting.
I love the combination of colors on the Blue-faced Meadowhawk and I was happy to get a decent shot that shows its blue face. If you want to see more shots of this beautiful dragonfly, check out Walter’s blog posting from yesterday.
I am now in search of the Autumn Meadowhawk, the last dragonfly that I observed last fall. Normally they should be here already, but none of my fellow dragonfly followers has observed any of them yeat.
© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved
Mike Powell 
You would think, due to the abudance of red, that it would be named something with red in it!
Um, that would be “abuNdance” of red….
Actually, I like the idea of a bud dance–I have visions of pirouetting flowers.
Certainly brightly coloured and all in 32C. I hate you lot lol 😀
Beautiful shot, that scarlet tail really stands out..:-)
Indeed. I don’t see many red dragonflies where I live. Strangely enough, the fall foliage, with spots of red, made it tougher to see this little guy.
I wish I had more patience when it came to these fascinating creatures. I need to spend more time sitting and less time hiking.
I am getting so used to doing so much slow, cautious movement that I might as well learn t’ai chi.
So many of the meadowhawks are red-bodied, I guess the namers had to find a unique feature to distinguish this one. (In answer to Cindy’s comment above). We have white-faced, cherry faced, and Ruby, but the Blue-faced doesn’t make this far north.