Widow Skimmer

Here's one of our Widow Skimmer dragonflies. If this is a mature adult, she's a female; the male would have white patches just past the black on its wings.

As with virtually all animals, the gender doesn't affect their name. The males are not called Widower Skimmers, just like male Painted Lady butterflies aren't Painted Gentlemen, and Belted Kingfisher female birds aren't Belted Queenfishers.

This was the first photo I got this year of a Widow Skimmer, though later in the year I saw them quite a bit. (If you hate pictures of Widow Skimmers, you're going to have a rough time reading this blog over the next month or so.)

June 5, 2021 at Duke Farms
Photo 136367992, (c) jpviolette, some rights reserved (CC BY-NC)


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