Last week I spotted Purple Skimmers preforming their namesake behavior over a pond. There was a good supply of mosquitoes to keep them occupied.
I don’t recall seeing this species before but in typical dragonfly behavior they taunted me to get an inflight shot.
I was not successful as each spot they hovered had a vegetation obstruction or I was just too slow. Fortunately they took frequent breaks.
Gorgeous colour … loved viewing these Ellen! thank you.
I was really surprised to see that purple shade. Oddly, I saw one in our back yard two days later and now regret I didn’t go for the camera.
So pretty!
Really an amazing color for a bug!
An unusual color in the animal world, one may wonder what function it has, in addition to appealing to us ….
That’s an interesting question, Hans. Certainly not camouflage for the area I saw them, but who knows how their predators see…
That is sure a spectacularly-colored dragonfly, Ellen. I am not familiar with Purple Skimmers, which do not exist in our area, but this hot pink color brings to mind a Roseate Skimmer, a species that is occasionally seen here, but is more of a southern species. My dragonfly identification book shows the range of the Purple Skimmer to be limited to a few areas in Florida, so I am wondering if your beautiful dragonfly might in fact be a Roseate Skimmer, which would be a good match for your Roseate Spoonbills.
I did not find the Roseate when I was searching online, Mike, but that sure is possible. And of course I love that name 😉.
We haven’t had anything close to a frost yet, 55 about the lowest, and there is still a lot of insect activity. Interestingly I saw one of these skimmers in our back yard a couple days after these images. I didn’t get the camera thinking he would be gone, but now wish I had given it a try.
Here are some shots of the Roseate Skimmer in BugGuide https://bugguide.net/node/view/2708
Thanks, I’ll check this out.
What beauty! You captured it very well, Ellen. Never spotted a purple skimmer, thanks for sharing.
Thanks, Greta, glad that you liked it. I was quite surprised to see this color, especially this late in dragonfly season. Thanks :-).
Awesome shooting.
Paz
Thank you, Paz!