I took these photos on July 31. This dragonfly was in the garden and let me get pretty close to it with my camera.
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| It is a Twelve-spotted Skimmer, Libellula pulchella. |
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| The 12 spots are the dark spots of which there are 3 per wing. Both males and females have the 12 spots. |
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| Only the adult males have the powder blue spots on their wings and the bluish coating on their abdomens. |
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| It is holding onto a Liatris flower stalk (blazing star). |
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| I think it is just soaking up the sun, giving me a nice photo op! |
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| All the descriptions of this dragon refer to the white patches on the wings. They sure look blue to me, even in the photos where they are referred to as white. |
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| I have seen several females during the summer, but they were never still enough to photograph. |
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| Beautiful thing to behold, unless you are its dinner target. |
What a brilliant insect that is! I'd love to see one of those. It looks to me a bit like it's been painted by a child, if you know what I mean!?
ReplyDeleteAn amazing subject to photograph. Really good shots Wilma, especially the last one.
ReplyDeleteSuper images and very colourful.
ReplyDeleteIt certainly is a stunner Wilma. Looks pretty big too.
ReplyDeleteKaren - yes, the spots are more like dabs.
ReplyDeleteRoy - thank you. :-) Certainly the best dragon photos I have ever taken.
Anthony - thanks. The garden color was just starting to peak.
Keith - They are hard to miss. Probably close to 4 inches across.
thank you all for the comments.
cheers,
Wilma
Brilliant shots Wilma. All the dragons I see have clear wings.
ReplyDeleteJohn - I didn't realize that spots were that unusual. I am just learning the local ones, so I am not sure if these are the only with spots or not. Time for more research. :-)
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