As I have mentioned before, the Kennebunk Bridle Path is an old, abandoned trolley line that runs from Kennebunk to Kennebunkport within site of the Mousam River…a reminder of a gentler age of tourism in the Kennebunks. Today it runs through large sections of Rachel Carson National Wildlife Refuge and Kennebunk Land Trust Conservation lands. It is mostly used by joggers, bicyclist, and dog walkers, but it provides easy access to some very rich habitat along the river for those of us interested in such things.

Since discovering the joy of watching dragon- and damselflies, almost exactly a year ago this week, I have a new reason to explore the Bridle Path. On either side of where it crosses Route 9 near the Mousam bridge, it runs through marshland with lots of small ponds and pools. It takes a very high tide to flood the marsh (though it happens on occasion) so the water in these ponds and pools is mostly fresh. And they are surrounded by marsh grass standing in a few inches to a foot of water on a very spongy bed. Along the rise of the Bridle Trail, and in the forest edge behind the marsh, larger bushes and small trees provide perches. It is an ideal dragon- and damselfly hatchery, and provides the emergent adults with an excellent hunting ground. Now that I am paying attention, I have seen dozens of species there already this spring and summer.

So I have taken to calling one particularly rich area, where a small stream runs through the marsh and under the Bridle Path, the dragon ponds. “I am off on my scooter to the dragon ponds,” I say to my wife, and she knows just where I will be. It is 2.2 miles one way (with a quarter mile walk at the end), so it is an easy ride on Froggy the Scoot. (I can ever ride right to the pools along the Path, but mostly I walk in from Route 9.) Froggy (due to the neon green color), is seen here parked by the ponds yesterday (which are, believe me, out there in the grass). I actually bought Froggy the Scoot to be able to get to the ponds more often.

The lead photo is a female Widow Skimmer. I have seen the female several times now, but I have yet to find a male.

By far the most abundant dragonfly in the Ponds is the Seaside Dragonlet. This is a tiny dragonfly by dragonfly standards…most individuals are less than inch long. They perch a lot, compared to other dragons, so they are relatively easy to photograph. This is a female, and a male and female in tandem follows.

There are also damselflies. The most common, by far, is Eastern Forktail. What we have in the next photo is a closely related Citrine Forktail, the first I have seen at the Dragon Ponds.

Next we have a Four-spotted Skimmer, almost as common as the Seaside Dragonlets, and certainly the most common of the bigger dragons.

And I will follow that with another Skimmer, this time the Twelve-spotted Skimmer. They have emerged within the past few days, and are already present in some numbers.

The real prize yesterday, though I don’t yet have a fully satisfying image, was several Halloween Pennants Painted Skimmers patrolling the marsh (Ed note: still learning!). These are strong flyers, very orange in the sun, who rarely perch, so I spent about a hour and a half watching and waiting. I had given up several times and tried to get back on Froggy the Scoot to go home, only to have one fly tantalizing close and tempt me back to the edge of the marsh. One did finally perch within photo range…but by then the wind was up and the dragonfly picked such a high perch in the marsh grasses that, with the wind wiping the grass, it might almost as well have still been flying. Still…it is a magnificent dragon!

All this in a few hours at the Dragon Ponds.

And for the Sunday thought. As I stood watching the Halloween Pennants Painted Skimmers patrolling, following a relatively predictable pattern over the marsh, always out of reach, I found my self willing them to perch! I came as far as muttering it under my breath like an incantation. “Perch. Please perch.” “Go on. Perch right there!” “Please.”

I was not under any illusion that my plea would effect the dragonflies, even if I spoke out-loud. Dragonflies clearly have business of their own which has nothing to do with me or my desire to photograph them. I will admit to getting very wet feet trying to reach a pool in the marsh were they seemed to congregate at one point, but chasing dragonflies on the wing is even more futile that asking them to perch.

No, I know who I am addressing. My mutters are not a plea to the dragonflies, but a prayer to the spirit that moves in both them and me. I am asking for a blessing, plain and simple, knowing I don’t deserve one and that I can’t earn it no matter how patient I am. Dragonflies will fly, unless, of course, they perch. When this one did, and I finally got the camera to focus on it while it clung to the waving grass, and I shot of a few bursts of images, it was purely a gift, and I was impossibly thankful.

It made my day. It sustained me when Froggy the Scoot ran out of battery half way home. it kept a smile on my face while I sweated the scooter up the final little hill and across the yard. It blossomed to an irrepressible grin when I got the images up on the laptop and saw I had a few keepers.

I know I am blessed to have the Dragon Ponds within reach. I have been especially blessed by a perching Halloween Pennant Painted Skimmers. It is not world peace, or an end to hunger, I know, but it makes me happy, hopeful, full of quiet joy. This is, I think, a good thing. Happy Sunday from the Dragon Ponds.