Although “treehugger” is a term that is sometimes used for environmentalists, it is even more applicable to Gray Petaltail dragonflies (Tachopteryx thoreyi), like these ones that I spotted last Tuesday in Prince William County. Gray Petaltails love to perch on the trunks of trees, where they blend in almost perfectly with the bark, as you can see especially well (or almost not see) in the second photo.
I have been told that Gray Petaltails especially like the color gray and a number of times one has perched on me when I was deliberately wearing a gray shirt. Fellow dragonfly enthusiast Walter Sanford capture that phenomenon in 2019 in one of his blog postings that he called “You look like a tree to me!”
I drove up to Massachusetts this past weekend for the celebration of my 50th high school reunion at Northfield Mount Heron School, the private college preparatory boarding school that I attended for three years. I disconnected from the internet during that time there, which is why I have not posted in several days—my apologies to those of you who may be used to a daily “fix.”
It was fascinating to reconnect with high school friends, often for the first time in 50 years, and to meet some classmates for the first time. Northfield was founded as a girls school in 1879 by evangelist Dwight L. Moody and two years he established Mount Hermon as a boy school. In 1971 the two schools formally merged and those of us in the class of 1972, my class, were the first to graduate from Northfield Mount Hermon School. At that time there were close to 1300 students divided between the two campuses, which made it difficult to know everyone—in recent years the school consolidated onto the Mount Hermon campus and it currently has a student body of about 700 students.
© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.
Mike Powell 
I love the angle in the first photo.
Thanks, Dan. It was cool to get that shot, because the petaltail was perched at almost eye-level. Most of the time they perch higher up in trees and the shots and the perspective get distorted.
Wowee on the fifty years!
Very nice to get these images at eyelevel, and with the two types of bark.
Over the last few years, I have had pretty good success with Gray Petaltails, but I will definitely photograph one whenever I get the chance. As for 50 years, my college class is already making preparations for our 50th reunion that comes up in four more years. Yikes!
Very nice Mike! Always fun to photograph & see dragonflies!!