Each contestant will have two attempts to get your vote for today’s best pic.

Miss Meadowhawk appears honored to be chosen.

Curtsy

Try not to stare all in one direction at the same time.

Dragonfly Eyes

Compound eyes are cute but that Frons on her face isn’t going to win her any beauty contests.

I’m going to presume the next contestant is a male. ‘He’ has the look of a long long married man. Tense, lips drawn in tight, eyes bulging, face turning green and ready to croak. Yep, that’s the look you get after 30 years when you marry Miss Right before learning her first name is Always.

Still Life with Frog

His lifestyle might look cool, clean and tranquil but he still eats bugs. I guess that’s expected since he grow up with pond scum.

Four Eyed Frog

Help is available if you can’t think of a comment.

Stare into the eyes and relax. Relax. Reach deep inside yourself and find your inner frog.

Ah jeeze, no one said to eat that fly

As usual – pics are linked to larger images (1024 x 768) for either a closer look and/or to use as desktop backgrounds

Autumn Meadowhawks are not birds of prey. They’re just small dragonflies
…and that’s a good thing.

Autumn Meadowhawks are less than 2 inches long. Immature males and females are a dull yellow-brown but as the males mature they turn red. They are also known as Yellow-Legged Meadowhawks because of …ah, go ahead and guess.

Sympetrum vicinum

I hate getting chewed out when my wife puts me on the carpet but I can take it. Having my head bit off by the dragon lady on the lawn is a whole other story.

Let’s forget my wife for now and get back to the legs. First if you ever find yourself being hugged by multiple pairs of hairy yellow legs you’ll never get a chance to bend over and kiss your behind goodbye. You’ll need a head to do that. Secondly, as males mature their legs turn darker brown-red. While the yellow legs of Autumn Meadowhawks are one clue to identification they are not always accurate.

It must be very early in the Autumn Meadowhawks fight. I’ve only seen a couple of red colored males so far out of dozens of these dragonflies over the last few of days.

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Images are linked to larger pics (1024 x 768) for a closer view and/or to use as desktop wallpaper. No other use is implied – keep that in mind if you don’t want your head bitten off.

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You’ll have to excuse me. I have to go. My wife is calling me out to the woodshed. She saw that dragon lady crack and I’m afraid it isn’t wood she wants to split.

…and other assorted Desktop Backgrounds

My best guess – this dragonfly is an immature White Faced Meadowhawk – Sympetrum obtrusum. I’m sure enough about the genus to eat one if proven wrong but after that your guess is as good as mine.

Odonata – Libellulidae – Sympetrum ?

So what do I do with photographic subjects I can’t identify? I can’t really write about something not knowing what it is so I make desktop wallpapers.

Dragonfly

Sometimes I’d rather just sort through the photos that clutter my computer than writing a post. If one catches my eye and I don’t have anything to say – poof, another background.

Bumblebee on Globe Thistle

All too often I find my brain cells overwhelmed by fungus. Once in a while I can actually pull off an identification but most times I just get a headache trying to name whatever caught my attention.

Can you name these mushrooms?

Then there are times I do have a positive ID and provide a larger size image for a closer look. I try to keep images large enough on my posts to appreciate but sometimes bigger is better.

False Solomon’s Seal

Feel free to use any of these as a background on your desktop. No other use is implied. Unless permission is asked and granted the use of any of my images for any other purpose is not allowed. There maybe serious consequences if you do. The last person who tried left a trail easy to follow. Now he leaves slime trails.

Slug