Nothing's Going to Slow Me Down

I nearly stepped on this dragonfly, which did not fly away for awhile. It stayed in one place while I fetched my camera and even touched its leg to see if it was dead. I wrote to Karen Kinkead, PhD, the Wildlife Diversity Program Coordinator in the Wildlife Bureau at the Iowa Department of Natural Resources in Des Moines, Iowa, to ask about the dragonfly's left eye. Her reply is below.

I think it's a female common whitetail.
Dragonflies in general only live for a few months as adults, so she could just be reaching the end of her life, but the eye pushed in could be due to running into a twig or even a mating injury from a male or any number of other things. I don't think anyone knows how badly an eye injury, especially if it's just one eye, can slow down a dragon.

Karen

Samsung S24 Ultra

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