Tiny Life Journal - My mornings start with a dog walk followed by a 30 minute bike ride and, finally outdoor chores. Lately those chores start with picking blackberries. A beautiful view of the nearby Missouri countryside then, while picking blackberries I met a female widow skimmer dragonfly that was sunning itself.

The widow skimmer is one of the group of dragonflies known as king skimmers. The nymphs live in the water, molting and growing until they are ready to emerge from the water and then molting a final time to reveal their wings.

A landscape photo with a foreground of a field of tall grasses. The field turns into a line of trees and shrubs and fades to a background of wooded distant hills set against a mostly cloudy sky illuminated by the morning sun. A black and yellow dragonfly perched on a plant branch and photographed from above. The four wings are translucent but half of each wing is black at the point they attach to the body. A black and yellow dragonfly perched on a plant branch and photographed from behind showing the side. The four wings are translucent but half of each wing is black at the point they attach to the body. A black and yellow dragonfly perched on a plant branch and photographed from the front at an angle that nightlights the eyes and shows the side of the body. The four wings are less visible at the edge on angle of the photo.