Welcome, Valerie!

[Alan W]

Welcome to the forum, Valerie.

I see from your Chihuahua profile that you're in the Blue Mountains - hope you've been able to keep fairly cool, and haven't had any bushfires nearby.

[Valerie]

Why, thank you Alan.  Pleased to be here.  Love the games, irritating as they may be at times.  Currently no fires in them here hills.  But the summer is yet young.  Touching wood with fingers and all else crossed of course.  Cheers.

[birdy]

Welcome, Valerie!  Hope to see you here often.

[Valerie]

And thank you too, Birdy.  Love your dragonfly.  What's its name?  We have dozens of the little critters hatching out of our pond at present.  Beautiful.

[pat]

Welcome, Valerie. Always good to have new people joining the forum.

[Gaye Christine]

Welcome, Valerie!!

[birdy]

Love your dragonfly.  What's its name? 

Hi Valerie, it's a couple of years since I took this picture, but I think it's a blue dasher (Pachydiplax longipennis), which is pretty common.  The photo was taken at Pound Ridge in upstate NY, on a trip with a couple of my friends who are big dragonfly and butterfly fans.  I take the snapshots, they ID them for me - though I've started trying to ID the pictures on my own with the help of a beginner's guide to dragonflies.

[Valerie]

Hi Birdy, many thank yous for that info. I've looked him up and he's utterly gorgeous! How lucky you are. Up here in the Blue Mountains of NSW, we are very privileged to have the rare and endangered Petalura Gigantea. A truly spectacular creature. You can check him out on http://www.uow.edu.au/~sharonb/wingecarribee/value/dragonfly.html