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Posts Tagged ‘female Needham’s Skimmer’

Needham’s Skimmer in September

Posted in Autumn, Dragonflies, dragonfly, Insects, Nature, Photography, wildlife, tagged , , , , , , , on September 3, 2025| 3 Comments »

Earlier in the summer Needham’s Skimmers (Libellula needhami) were one of the most common dragonflies that I would encounter at Occoquan Bay National Wildlife Refuge, but over the past month their numbers have dropped significantly as their flight season draws to a close. I was therefore quite pleased to spot this mature female Needham’s Skimmer on Monday at the wildlife refuge.

The dragonfly’s colors seemed a bit faded, but otherwise she appeared to be in good shape. I am not sure if the stalk of vegetation on which she was perching was comfortable, but it helped me to isolate her from the background and its pointy protrusions add visual interest to the image.

Needham's Skimmer

© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.

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Needham’s Skimmer dragonfly

Posted in Dragonflies, dragonfly, Insects, Nature, Photography, spring, wildlife, tagged , , , , , , on May 31, 2025| 4 Comments »

I was delighted yesterday during a visit to Occoquan Bay National Wildlife Refuge to spot this beautiful female Needham’s Skimmer dragonfly (Libellula needhami), my first of the year. Later in the year, Needham’s Skimmers will become the most frequent dragonfly that I will encounter at this location but the dragonfly in the photo below was the only one that I saw yesterday.

Needham’s Skimmers are quite distinctive in appearance. Mature males are reddish-orange in color and stand out from the males of other species. Females and immature males have a body coloration that is shared with some other species, but the golden yellow veins at the leading edges of their wings distinguishes them from the others.

Needham's Skimmer

© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.

 

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Female Needham’s Skimmer

Posted in Autumn, Dragonflies, dragonfly, Insects, Nature, Photography, Summer, wildlife, tagged , , , , , , , on September 6, 2024| 3 Comments »

Earlier this summer Needham’s Skimmer dragonflies (Libellula needhami) were among the most common dragonflies that I would see at Occoquan Bay National Wildlife Refuge. The last month or so, however, their numbers have declined significantly and they are now quite hard to find. I was delighted, therefore, to photograph this slightly tattered female Needham’s Skimmer on Tuesday morning.

Our weather has cooled off this week, with early morning temperatures in the 50’s (10 degrees C) and daytime highs struggling to get to 80 degrees (27 degrees C). I looked at the 10-day weather forecast and see that temperatures are not predicted to hit the 90’s (33 degrees C). Now it would be premature to declare that summer is over and we may well have some hot days in store for us, but the seasons are definitely changing.

So I will continue to search for remaining dragonflies while again, hopeful that I will spot some of the autumn species, like the Autumn Meadowhawks and Blue-faced Meadowhawks that should be appearing soon. Personally, autumn is my favorite time of the year, with cool nights and warm, sunny days, but I am not yet ready to bid farewell to the summer.

Needham's Skimmer

© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.

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Needham’s Skimmer in late August

Posted in Dragonflies, dragonfly, Insects, Nature, Photography, Summer, wildlife, tagged , , , , , , , on August 24, 2024| Leave a Comment »

Early in the summer, Needham’s Skimmers (Libellula needhami) were among the most common dragonflies at Occoquan Bay National Wildlife Refuge. As the dragonfly season begins to wind down, their population size has been noticeably dwindling. I am still likely to see some of them, but I have to search a lot harder than I did a month or two ago.

Yesterday I captured this image of a female Needham’s Skimmer. She is in pretty good shape overall, with only a small portion of her wings looking a little tattered.

I like the way that this image shows the bright yellow veining near the leading edges of her wings, one of the distinctive identifying features of this dragonfly species. (The mature males are bright orange or red in coloration, making them even easier to identify.)

Needham's Skimmer

© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.

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Needham’s Skimmer (female)

Posted in Dragonflies, dragonfly, Insects, Nature, Photography, Summer, wildlife, tagged , , , , , , , on June 29, 2024| 2 Comments »

There has been a recent explosion of dragonflies at Occoquan Bay National Wildlife Refuge, my favorite location for photographing these beautiful aerial acrobats. I spotted hundreds and hundreds of dragonflies this past Tuesday as I explored the trails at the refuge.

One of the species that I encountered most frequently that day was the Needham’s Skimmer (Libellula needhami). The Dragonflies of Northern Virginia website provided a wonderful description of the Needham’s Skimmer. “This dashing summer dragonfly, a member of the king skimmer genus, makes quite a splash at the shallow, marshy wetlands it prefers. Relatively skittish, it spends more time on the wing and less time perching than other king skimmers.”

At this time of the year the males and females have a similar coloration, but as they mature the males will turn reddish-orange. The dragonfly in this photo is a female—it is easy to tell from the terminal appendages at the end of the abdomen. I love the bright yellow vein on the wings of this dragonfly, a feature that is shared by the males as well as the females of the species.

Needham's Skimmer

© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.

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