According to Dragonflies and Damselflies of the East by Dennis Paulson, the Common Whitetail lives up to its name…it is both common and widespread across the US, and it certainly has a white tail. I have seen it briefly and from afar at the Dragon Ponds down in the river marsh here in Maine, and then close up in Virginia by a pond on a gulf course at the resort my company was using for a training. It was real treat to find two males disputing over the little Arrowroot pond between Roger’s Pond and the Mousam River…a pond the size of a bathtub…and a female laying eggs in a corner. Great afternoon light and effective perches made for my first really good shots of the bug.

They call that effect on the abdomen (tail) of the dragonfly pruinosity, from the Latin for “frost”…as in “frosted with a white powder”. It happens to many species of dragonflies on various parts of their bodies, but is most pronounced here on the Whitetail.

And then we have the female ovapositing…laying eggs in the water. She bounded up and down in one spot, striking the surface with her abdomen over and over. The final image is of the male in a somewhat defensive posture. There was, as I said, another male attempting to dislodge this one from the pond. This one seemed to be protecting the female from the other male as she did her thing.

Canon SX40HS. Program with iContrast and –1/3EV exposure compensation.  1240 and 1680mm equivalent fields of view. f5.8 @ 1/500 to !/1000th sec. @ ISO 125-200. Processed in Lightroom for intensity, clarity, and sharpness.