Check out who decided to hang out on my green onions.
It's a female whitetail dragonfly. She really wanted to be there. I was weeding quite near to her for a while before I noticed her. Then I went and got a point and shoot camera. Took some shots but was frustrated by autofocus. Went and got my good camera with the wrong lens. At this point, she skittered off and I thought that was that. But then she came back around and landed almost exactly where she had been before, posing for me while I snapped and flashed away.
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Dragonflies are some of the hardest insects to capture on film. They generally don't stay too long in one place and they are sooooo fast.
Here is one that I took a couple of years ago hiking in the U.P. of Michigan in Craig Lake State Park. Craig Lake Park is the most remote of Michigan's state parks and is a pristine area with a nice hiking trail around the lake of about 8 miles. I am not sure of the species of Dragonfly this is but it was big (at least 3" long) and absolutely was checking me out thus allowing me to get this shot.
Thanks intheflow. It certainly looks as though it maybe a type of Hines Emerald Dragonfly...
All I know it was big and quite amazing to see live. He didn't stay put too long... about two or three minutes...but as you can see I was able to get a very high quality shot of him.
I do a lot of hiking and always bring my camera.... everything in nature is a potential photo. As far as insects go though... I have found Dragonflies and Pray Mantises to actually have an interest in studying you as you study them. They seem to have a different level of consciousness.
Anyway.... I have a couple more of this guy... and now that you have tweaked my interest in the species... I will do some research myself on the HED..... I will be going on that same hike sometime before the end of the summer. I will certainly be looking for them again.
On that same hike I took the photo of this spider..... another truly fascinating creature. The best identification I could narrow it down to was an "Orb" spider... most likely a "Garden Orb" ... the closest match I found was a spider in Australia!! Very close to the same markings...but the colors on the legs were a bit different. But how could two spiders on opposite sides of the earth be related? Kinda mindboggling....
But after looking at several different pictures of the many Clubtails out there... there are a few that have those green eyes.
Unless you don't mind---in which case you should be a good host and bring out the salad dressing!!
Do they also eat plants? 
But I probably read it in my 3rd grade earth science class, now *mumblemumble* years ago. Thought it possible science had discovered in the intervening decades that they also ate plants.
Onion breath. 
