Back when I was just a lil baby naturegeek, long before the advent of iNaturalist - probably before I had a digital camera, even - I distinctly remember taking a walk along my country road and finding a dead dragonfly. It was huge, and cool-looking, and fresh enough that its eyes were still green. I brought it home, and used my Stokes "Beginner's Guide to Dragonflies" to identify it as a Dragonhunter with all of the confidence of a person who doesn't know enough to realize what she doesn't yet know. Pleased with myself, I threw it away, unphotographed, and moved on.
Obviously a lot of dragonflies have come and gone since then, and I have definitely realized all of the things I don't yet know when it comes to odes. I have occasionally thought back to my erstwhile Dragonhunter and wondered if I got it right.
This past weekend I paid a visit to my old stomping grounds, although the home that went along with them has belonged to someone else for five years now. And what should I find swooping around the bridge?
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| Dragonhunter |
Almost fifteen years later: vindication.
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