Mighty Hunter

Familiar Bluet
Enallagma civile

Yesterday was a complete bust for warblers at Palmyra (which was disappointing since the conditions were SO much better for shooting than the day before. I guess numbers are inversely proportional to conditions), so I was relegated to trying to find anything else I could. Turns out that getting frustrated and ready to leave was the perfect panacea for my day (which at that point included 4 pictures – a sparrow, a catbird and two of fungus).

Walking back, I suddenly came across a bevy of insects – dragonflies, skippers, fritillaries, hairstreaks, spiders and this beauty of a damselfly. I immediately assumed it was a Eastern Forktail, but it turned out to be a Familiar Bluet, a new one for me.

If you look at the large version, you can see the remains of breakfast being happily chomped away. And at the base of the tail are 3 small black dots – mites?