This is another backyard darner find. This guy was zigzagging around while I was out back watering the plants and then landed on the patio umbrella. I took a quick look and noticed that the thoracic stripes were not like those of the Canada Darner that shows up in my yard semi-regularly and occasionally perches on the umbrella. I then raced inside to get my camera but got caught up with something and didn't get back outside for a couple of minutes. Luckily the darner was still there when I did make it back outside. I had my field guide in hand and identified this darner quickly by the shape of the claspers and broken thoracic stripes (better seen in the next photo) to be a Variable Darner, something new for me.