For a variety of reasons I did not manage to go out with my camera this past week, so I went through my photos from the previous week and was delighted to find this photo of a Blue-faced Meadowhawk dragonfly (Sympetrum vicinum). As I have noted in previous postings, Blue-faced Meadowhawks have such a wonderful combination of colors that make them one of my favorite dragonfly species.
I was quite fortunate that this particular individual landed on some leaves right next to one of my feet, so I was able to capture this cool image by shooting almost directly downwards. In fact, I had to digitally remove a bit of the boot I was wearing from the lower left edge of the photo to keep the viewer from getting distracted.
Several days ago we had some frost warnings, so I fear that more of the dragonflies will have disappeared for the season. Still, I hope to return to my local wildlife refuge in the next few days to see what I can find.
© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.
Mike Powell 
That is a lovely photo. The muted leaf is the perfect partner to the colors of the dragonfly.
so colorful!