Mike Powell

I know that there should be more dragonflies still around, but this past Wednesday, this Blue Dasher (Pachydiplax longipennis) was the only dragonfly that I spotted during a visit to Occoquan Bay National Wildlife Refuge. The day was cool and gloomy with intermittent drizzle, which almost certainly contributed to the relative scarcity of dragonflies. This month the number of dragonflies will continue to drop, but there still should be some Autumn Meadowhawks and Blue-faced Meadowhawks flying into November.

Blue Dashers are one of our most common dragonfly species and are usually among the first species to emerge in the spring and to disappear in the fall. The dragonfly in this photo was perched at the edge of a small pond. I was happy to capture this shot, considering that I had switched to my longer Tamron 150-600mm lens, which sometimes is a bit soft when extended to 600mm. I had changed lens in anticipation of seeing more birds, which largely was not the case that day.

© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.