And The Star Of The Day Is…

… a Two-striped Forceptail (Aphylla williamsoni). I think it was obvious there would be more photos of the Two-striped Forceptail at the end of the last post of our latest dragonfly afternoon at Whitetail Lake at the Charlie Elliott Wildlife Center in Jasper County, Georgia. Since we’d seen a Two-striped Forceptail the previous week, we thought we’d go by the lake again and see if we could spot another one.

Have you ever been mooned by a dragonfly? I have and there he is, mooning me. I thought that was the best we were going to do and was a little disappointed. He seemed so comfortable; I didn’t think he was going to move.

I had walked along the dam to where some pine boughs had been thrown in the lake to attract fish. They did, however, provide great spots for dragonflies to survey their surroundings for a snack. And then he did fly, making a few passes along the dam and came back to alight on a small branch not more than a couple of feet from the shore. He was remarkably tolerant when I worked my way carefully down the slope to the water’s edge. I felt that, if I had beach shoes on, I could have stepped into the water and taken photos with a macro lens. But I settled for shooting from a little distance with a zoom setting.

Here he is. Obelisking. We later measured the temperature in the shade at 94F. It must have been hotter here in the full sun.

Closer still. I’m still not at full zoom. That’s how close he is.

A full zoom. No doubt he is a Two-striped Forceptail.

And then he turned on the charm. He turned to face me and I was able to photograph the markings on the top of the thorax.

And closer still.

*****

And then I was able to photograph the forcep tail.

A great photoshoot. We couldn’t have gotten a more cooperative dragonfly if we had paid for him to pose. I sat photographing him for about half an hour. He was a very handsome fellow.
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Identification resources:
- Georgia Dragonfly Survey: Two-striped Forceptail (Aphylla williamsoni)
- BugGuide: Two-striped Forceptail (Aphylla williamsoni)
- S. L Brown: Two-striped Forceptail (Aphylla williamsoni)

Related posts:
- Dragonfly: Two-striped Forceptail (Aphylla williamsoni)
- Another Dragonfly Afternoon At Whitetail Lake