This past week I was excited to see several Eastern Ringtail dragonflies (Erpetogomphus designatus) while exploring Riverbend Park in Great Falls, Virginia. This species is relatively uncommon in our area and I had only encountered one once before at a location in Maryland. Fellow dragonfly enthusiast and photographer Walter Sanford had alerted me to the presence of these dragonflies at the park and their location, so I was fairly confident that I would be able to find some of them. (With wildlife photography there are few guarantees—you can never be sure how long a species will remain at a given location, particularly when it comes to insects like dragonflies that have a limited season.)
Well, I managed to find some Eastern Ringtails and was faced with the challenge of how to photograph them. The bad news was that this species likes to perch on the ground, but the good news was that the ground on which they chose to perch was uncluttered—it was a boat ramp made of some kind of aggregate concrete. The background of these shots is not natural, but it does allow you to see some of the beautiful details of this stunning dragonfly, especially their spectacular blue eyes.
© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved
Mike Powell 
I zoomed in on this one, Mike. The clarity of the wings and eyes is amazing.
Thanks, Dan. My macro lens was my first love and I find myself returning again and again. This dragonfly was pretty cooperative and let me get close. The biggest challenge when getting this close, though, is holding it steady, because every movement is magnified.
Wonderful series of portraits.
Very interesting images. I’m not used to seeing dragonflies land on hard surfaces like this, or on the ground at all, really. Is this behavior unique to this particular species?
A number of the species that live near streams or rivers will sometimes perch on the ground or on the rocks. One of my favorites, the Common Sanddragon, perches almost exclusively on the sandy bank of streams. The short answer is that there is a wide variety of perching behavior among dragonflies and I have even had some of them perch on me. It seems to me, though, that the majority of the ones that you will find in marshy areas tend to perch on vegetation or fly continuously to my great frustration.
I like the color design