For several years I have been on a quest, seeking to find a dragonhunter. No, I have not been playing a medieval role-playing game—I have been searching in vain for one of the monsters of the dragonfly world, the Dragonhunter (Hagenius brevistylus). As its name suggests, this fierce predator feeds on other insects, including darner and other clubtail dragonflies, sometimes ambushing them from above, according to Wikipedia.
As I was walking yesterday along one of the trails at Occoquan Bay National Wildlife Refuge, I was certainly not expecting to see a dragonhunter. Most of the time they perch in trees overhanging streams and wait for a prey to fly by. So when I saw a dragonfly perch vertically on the stem of a plant, I assumed that it was a Fine-lined Emerald or possibly a Russet-tipped Clubtail, species that I had previously encountered near this location.
When I zoomed in, I noticed that the coloration was different, but thought perhaps that it was a merely female of one of these two species. When I reviewed a couple of shots on the back of the camera and saw the bright yellow stripes on the thorax, I knew that I had captured images of a different species. I wasn’t sure what it was, but local dragonfly expert and fellow blogger Walter Sanford identified it for me as a male Dragonhunter.
This experience reminded me of one of the lessons that Walter has taught me over the years—it pays to be alert at all times, because dragonflies don’t always follow the “rules” when it comes to habitats and can sometimes be found in locations where you would never expect to find them.
© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.
Mike Powell 
Wow, a great find! How big are these dragonflies? It looks like it has an extremely long abdomen, which must make it tough to fly efficiently, maybe?
Their body length can be about 3 1/2 inches. From what I have read, they spend a lot of time perching, rather than flying, and the long abdomen tends to bend downwards when perching. Normally they do so horizontally, although this one was perching almost vertically.
What a shame you didn’t know the magnitude of your find until later, that seems so unsatisfying, but still really cool that you finally found one!!!
I practice what I like to call the law of the Wild West–shoot first and ask questions later. It is often difficult when looking at the screen on the back of my digital camera to tell how good a shot is. As a result, I often reserve my judgment on an image until I bring it up on my computer. Deferred excitement is pretty good too. 🙂