Why Dragonflies Point Their Tails Straight Up?

         As you can see in two of these images above the dragonflies tails are pointing straight up. You're asking "Why dragonfly do that"? The answer is that it's not just a tail, it's their abdomen. Dragonfly breathe through their abdomen. By pointing their tail straight up is their way to reduce the exposure of their abdomen to the sun. If you notice that sometimes they have a cooler looking abdomen, that means cooler air drawn in. If it looks warmer meaning warmer air drawn in.

Louisiana Dragonflies

Meadowhawks Dragonfly

         Sympetrum is a genus of all small to medium-sized skimmer dragonflies, known as Darters in the UK as a meadowhawks in the North America.

Male Emperor Dragonfly

          The Emperor Dragonfly, or also known as Blue Emperor, or Anax Imperator, is a large and powerful species of hawker dragonfly of the family Aeshnidae . It is found mainly in Europe, nearby Africa, and Asia.

Female Blue Skimmer Dragonfly

       Blue Skimmer dragonfly, Orthetrum caledonicum. How to find out whether it's a male or female? The males have a powder blue thorax and  pruabdomeninescent  blue when mature. The females are brownish  grey in colour while teneral are yellow with black markings.

      I love taking pictures of dragonfly, and these are my most favorites here. I found them in my front yard and I took the time taking pictures of them. I had so much fun!