northeast-flora-and-fauna

Here's a Painted Skimmer I met last month. Since the dark spots of the wings go very close to the end of the wings, I'm pretty sure this is a male. This location might be a little unusual for a male however; I saw it away from water in a more wooded area. I've read that generally speaking the males stake out areas near water while females hunt in nearby woods. (Presumably when the females are ready to mate, they can simply head to water and mate with whichever male has staked out that particular territory.) I've gotten some pictures of odonates mating, but it would be challenging to capture Painted Skimmers (or most other skimmers ) in the act. Apparently they mate in midair while flying. (Moving targets are pretty challenging for me.) May 6, 2021 at Sourland Mountain Preserve Photo 128958591, (c) jpviolette, some rights reserved (CC BY-NC)

Here's an Eastern Amberwing Dragonfly . They are pretty small as dragonflies go, though they're still more robust-looking than a lot of damselflies. They get their name from their translucent amber wings of the males; the females have darker patches on otherwise wings. (Many times species are named for the appearance of the flashier sex, which is frequently the male in nature.) Like many of the dragonflies I've discussed, these guys are also considered skimmers , and like many skimmers you can frequently find them perched somewhere. Though they typically catch food on-the-fly, they'll frequently perch to eat that food. The males will stake out a patch of water that they think the females would approve of for egg-laying, and aggressively defend it from other males. If the male has chosen well, the females will show up and they'll mate. Though they're predators in their own right, they have something else going for them. The stripes on their tail is somewhat simil...

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

Here are a couple Eastern Pondhawks I met. I'm posting them together to show the way sexual dimorphism manifests itself in this skimmer dragonfly species. They are about the same size and with mostly transparent but veiny wings. But while the body of the females is bright green other than the black stripes on the tail, the males are a light, powdery blue. Note that I called them skimmer dragonflies; this means they're in the same family as the Widow Skimmers I've shown earlier. The Eastern Pondhawk is considered a fairly aggressive dragonfly in that it will attempt to prey on most insects its own size and smaller, including other odonates (odes for short, and consisting of dragonflies and damselflies). Note that both these pondhawks were found at Duke Farms on the same day, the pictures were taken a while apart, and there's no reason to believe they were a couple. July 14 at Duke Farms July 14 at Duke Farms