Yesterday my aunt sent me a text that her friend from church spotted a Painted Bunting not too far from my house. For 3-hours I hunted, prayed, tried to lure it out with my trusty iBird app—all to no avail. So it was either this Four Spotted Pennant (a new insect for me) or a Mississippi Kite eating a dragonfly in the air. The Kite shot just wasn't sharp enough. They will be here until the end of August, so I may return tomorrow to look for the Painted or get better shots of the Kite.

I love the bronze, shimmery markings on the wings of this pennant. The orange body indicates a young female. As she ages she'll turn brown—kinda like me! The males are blue. She'd better look out for the Kites since they seem to love them some dragonflies.

217/366Four Spotted Pennant
400mm | f/5.6 | ISO 320 | 1/1000 sec