Great Blue Skimmer – Libellula vibrans
There’s a Great Blue Skimmer dragonfly, Libellula vibrans, at the bottom of this Virginia garden. It’s a handsome beast:
I creep a little closer:
It’s very active and will fly if I move too fast. They are distinctive because no other dragonfly here has blue eyes and a white face. The blue on the body looks like the waxy covering on a plum. It’s called pruinescence, which means ‘hoar-frost’. They have a frosty covering in this summer heat.
Here it is in glorious profile:
There’s another dragonfly here which I only glimpse briefly. Researching it I find it’s a juvenile Great Blue Skimmer. This is what they look like before they develop their adult colouring:
Who would have guessed?