Eastern Ringtail

No not an exotic cat from far away, it is a clubtail dragonfly. These Eastern Ringtails are a new species for me! I heard about them being found at Falls lake and headed over when I got the chance, it was not very sunny and I missed them on the first try.

I returned the next week on a very sunny day and found a fair number of them. The males are perching at the top of the dam and the females at the bottom.

Female Eastern Ringtail (Erpetogomphus designatus) isn't she beautiful?

male above and below Eastern Ringtail (Erpetogomphus designatus)

Above and below they are oblisking to cool off.

Female Eastern Ringtail (Erpetogomphus designatus) females do not have the club like shown on the males.

At around 2 inches I expected them to be larger for some reason. They blended in to the environment quite well and vanished when the clouds came over. Funny with over 10 years of hunting dragonflies I'd never seen them and these were found an hour away from here.