Last year I was delighted to find a single gray petaltail, Tachopteryx thoreyi, for the first time. This year I was just as thrilled to find the second one, and since then I’ve seen them everywhere, from the yard around the house to both creeks, and between. A few days ago, I watched one perched on a porch post periodically zooming out to catch something, and then return to the same position, time after time. I’m almost tempted to catalog them as individuals, like the box turtles.

If there’s such a thing as a charming dragonfly it would be this species. I’m fairly careful of propagating information gleaned solely from the internet, but here’s one objectively independent observation that I see over and over. People get excited about finding this particular species, and they all notice the same things: gray petaltails love to perch on vertical surfaces, and they’re uncommonly bold.

This one decided that my pant leg was just the place to be, and would not be dislodged.