Even though the main attraction of the cattle egret rookery is the birds, they are far from the only interesting thing there. The swampy area grows plenty of beautiful plants and flowers, and there are insects galore. The area has an exceptional number of dragonflies of several species including the eastern pondhawk (Erythemis simplicicollis). The pondhawk is a large, aggressive dragonfly that’s easy to notice if it’s around. The females and males of the species are very different looking, and as is typical of sexually dimorphic insects, the immature males are colored like females. As they mature, the males begin to change from the female green color to the powder blue of the males. The color change begins on the tail and then progresses onto the body. As you can see, this one has begun to change tail color, which I think is a really pretty stage. I haven’t seen many in this stage, and the first time I did, I thought it was a new species. Now that I know better, I don’t get excited about spotting a new species, but I still get excited about how beautiful they are, and how unique each one is.