Bar-winged Skimmer
In a large lantana bush this morning a delicate blue-gray dragonfly rested among the orange blossoms and green leaves, as Tiger Swallowtail and Black Swallowtail butterflies fluttered gently near it, visiting the blooms. Two Buckeye butterflies, four Silver-spotted Skippers, and a few small Fiery Skippers were visiting the flowers too, on an already hot, humid day. Huge white clouds with dark gray bottoms billowed and drifted in a sky that somehow still was mostly blue and sunny.
The dragonfly’s slender, graceful shape, and cool, powdery, blue-gray color might have escaped attention, but its wings whirred in a fairy-like way when it moved even slightly. When sitting still, it held its four transparent wings out straight to the sides. The wings were intricately veined, with the front edges trimmed in fine, distinctive black markings.
I’m pretty sure it was a Bar-winged Skimmer, Libellula axilena. I looked it up after I got back home, and learned that this dragonfly is found throughout Georgia and much of the Southeast, but is considered uncommon, not often seen. It prefers forested areas with ponds or other still, shallow water, or slow-moving wooded streams. Although this location was in a suburban neighborhood, there are woods and creeks and a pond, surrounding us and not far away.
The morning also held two especially nice, surprising birds. A Red-eyed Vireo sang somewhere in the treetops behind a neighbor’s house, too far from the road to see. And a Northern Flicker announced its presence with several good, loud calls of kleer! This is the first time I’ve found a Flicker here since sometime last spring. Although they do sometimes spend the summer in this part of Georgia, they usually spend only the fall and winter months here in our neighborhood, and this is a little earlier than usual to find one. It may be just passing through or visiting. And it may be another sign of increasing bird activity and movement as the fall season comes closer.