It is in such light as this, late in the afternoon, when they are illuminated by a brilliant beam against the background shadows that they first “appear” as if out of nowhere.
We always have a few marauding dragonflies that claim hunting territory along the creek from which they hatched and the edge of the pasture.
When the light is low and bright, and the days grow noticeably shorter, and I am not thinking it is time for them yet at all, the migrating dragonflies descend from their travels (to where?) and congregate in our little five acre sliver of clearing in the midst of square miles of forest.
Today, I’ll try to identify the species of “devil’s horse” that has dropped in on us and send the report into the Xerces Society for their study of the mysterious migration (twice the distance of the beleaguered Monarchs that remain) of this agile agent of insect control.