northeast-flora-and-fauna

Here are 3 dragonflies who are staking out basically the same territory. I almost got each of them into the picture. Left to right, I believe they are a Slaty Skimmer , a Blue Dasher , and a Widow Skimmer , and they're all males trying to stake out a territory. (Controlling a desirable territory seems to go a long way towards making a male dragonfly attractive to a female dragonfly.) When I took this picture, my assumption was that these 3 species would tolerate each other since they're different species and thus not competing for the same females. And there's probably some truth to this; it's hard to believe a male dragonfly can claim to be controlling a territory with rival males perched this close. But my copy of Dragonflies and Damselflies of the East  (Dennis Paulson) suggests things might not be peaceful for long. About Widow Skimmers it claims "aggressive to males of their own and other species", and about the Blue Dasher it says "also fiercely agg...

Here's another Widow Skimmer I met. With no white on the wing or tail ( pruinose ), it's presumably a female. She is a member of the skimmer dragonfly family , considered to be the largest dragonfly family, though some members of the family have surnames like Whitetail, Pondhawk, Meadowhawk, etc. This family generally exhibits sexual dimorphism , frequently due to pruinosity.  Don't be confused by the picture. If that was a bee or butterfly, it's likely that we'd be witnessing a pollinator at work. But for the predatory Widow Skimmer, this is just a place to perch. July 14 at Duke Farms