Backyard and Beyond

A male Common Green Darner (Anax junius), one of our largest species of dragonfly. You should really click on the picture for a larger view, since there is some great detail here because this one perched quite a while below eye-level, allowing us all good looks as he rubbed his front legs over his eyes. Note how large those eyes are: dragonflies are like raptors, depending on vision to hunt. A migratory species, this three-inch long darner is usually the first dragonfly seen in the spring and one of the last in the fall (a female is pictured in the link).