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Posts Tagged ‘Twelve-spotted Skimmer’

Twelve-spotted Skimmer

Posted in Autumn, Dragonflies, dragonfly, Insects, Nature, Photography, wildlife, tagged , , , , , , , on September 11, 2025| 6 Comments »

I spotted this gorgeous Twelve-spotted Skimmer dragonfly (Libellula pulchella) on Monday (8 September) at Occoquan Bay National Wildlife Refuge. I don’t see this species very often and think this might be the first one that I had photographed this season. The white spots in between the darker patches on the wings indicate that this is a male—females of this species have only the darker spots.

Most of the time when I am photographing dragonflies I have to shoot quickly before the dragonfly flies away. In this case, I had the luxury of being able to move around a bit to find a shooting angle that captured the details of the beautiful wings and the blooming wildflowers in the background. Why? When male Twelve-spotted Skimmers are flying, their patterned wings make them look almost like butterflies and I was able to track this dragonfly to the spot where he landed—most other dragonflies have transparent wings and therefore appear smaller when they are in flight.

Twelve-spotted Skimmer

© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.

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Twelve-spotted Skimmer dragonfly

Posted in Autumn, Dragonflies, dragonfly, Insects, Nature, Photography, Summer, wildlife, tagged , , , , , , , , on September 7, 2024| 3 Comments »

I love to see dragonflies with patterned wings and so I was delighted to spot this male Twelve-spotted Skimmer dragonfly (Libellula pulchella) on Tuesday at Occoquan Bay National Wildlife Refuge. The males of this species have a beautiful combination of brown and white patches on their wings.

I used to be confused about the name of the species, because there appear to be a total of twenty-two spots. To make things worse, this species is also known as the Ten-spot Skimmer. What? It apparently depends of how you count the spots. If you count only the brown spots that are present on both males and females, you get twelve spots, but if you count the white spots that are present on only the males, you get ten spots. Yikes! Who knew that math was so important in dragonfly identification. 🙂

Twelve-spotted Skimmer

© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.

 

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Twelve-spotted Skimmer in October

Posted in Autumn, Insects, Nature, Photography, wildlife, tagged , , , , , , on October 9, 2023| 5 Comments »

When the calendar turns over to October, I never know which dragonflies I will encounter. Many of them have disappeared, but some hardy survivors are still around. The weather was warm last week, with several days in the 80’s (27 degrees C), but this week, high temperatures are predicted to be in the low to mid 60’s (17 degrees C) with nighttime temperatures dipping to the upper 40’s (9 degrees C)—this cool weather is less than optimal for most dragonflies.

I was thrilled last Tuesday to spot this Twelve-spotted Skimmer dragonfly (Libellula pulchella) at the edge of a small pond at Occoquan Bay National Wildlife Refuge. I was especially pleased to be able to capture the beautiful patterns on this dragonfly’s wings as it perched in the reeds.

Twelve-spotted Skimmer

© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.

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Twelve-spotted Skimmer in September

Posted in Autumn, Dragonflies, dragonfly, Insects, Nature, Photography, Summer, wildlife, tagged , , , , , , on September 7, 2023| 2 Comments »

From a distance, many dragonflies are hard to identify. However, the wing markings on a male Twelve-spotted Skimmer dragonfly (Libellula pulchella) are so distinctive that I could identify this dragonfly immediately when I spotted it yesterday in the marshland at Jackson Miles Abbott Wetland Refuge.

If you take the time to count all of the spots on the wings of the dragonfly, you come up with a number much higher than 12. Why then is it called a Twelve-spotted Skimmer? Someone decided that it was best to count only the dark spots, because only the males generally have the white spots. It is a rare case when gender equality seems to have factored into the name of a species—normally species’ names are based on the characteristics of the male.

Twelve-spotted Skimmer

© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.

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Dragonflies in North Dakota

Posted in Dragonflies, dragonfly, Insects, Nature, Photography, Summer, Travel, wildlife, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , on August 4, 2022| 9 Comments »

While I was hiking a trail parallel to the Little Missouri River last week in Theodore Roosevelt National Park in North Dakota, I managed to photograph three different species of dragonflies, two of which I thought were familiar to me.

The first photo shows a male Wandering Glider (Pantala flavescens). Normally I consider myself lucky to be able to photograph a single individual, but during this hike I was able to photograph several Wandering Gliders. UPDATE: An eagle-eyed fellow dragonfly enthusiast in Virginia pointed out to me that this is probably a male Variegated Meadowhawk (Sympetrum corruptum). Thanks, Michael Ready, for the assist in identification.

The second photo shows a male Twelve-spotted Skimmer (Libellula pulchella). The males of this species are quite easy to identify, because the have white and dark patches on each of their wings. I was surprised to be able to get this shot, because I had to shoot almost straight down from a high bank of the river. Fortunately the dragonfly cooperated by perching in plain view rather than in heavy vegetation.

The third photo shows what I believe to be a Variable Darner (Aeshna interrupta), a new species for me. I saw the dragonfly patrolling overhead and began to track it visually. I watched it land low in some vegetation on the opposite bank of the river.

Believe it or not, I could not actually see the dragonfly when I took the final shot below, but I was pretty confident that I knew where to aim my camera. Amazingly, it worked and I was able to capture a usable image of the dragonfly.

When I began this trip across the country, I did not plan to have chances to hunt for dragonflies. It has been an unexpected joy to have had opportunities to see dragonflies at different places and a true delight to be able to capture images of some of them.

Wandering Glider

Twelve-spotted Skimmer

© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.

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Twelve-spotted Skimmer

Posted in Dragonflies, dragonfly, Insects, Nature, Photography, spring, wildlife, tagged , , , , , , on May 31, 2021| 25 Comments »

I love to see dragonflies with patterned wings and it is a real bonus when they have two different colored patterns, like this young male Twelve-spotted Skimmer (Libellula pulchella) that I spotted last week at Occoquan Regional Park. I can tell that it is a male, because females do not have the white spots, and that it is young, because as the males get older, their bodies develop a waxy blue powder called pruinescence.

Some of you who are mathematically inclined may have tried to count the dragonfly’s spots and come up with a number higher than twelve. It is a little confusing, but someone in the past decided to count only the dark spots, three on each wing, to come with the name Twelve-spotted Skimmer. It many not make complete sense, but I have long ago given up trying to understand the “logic” of some of the names of species that I have encountered.

This dragonfly seemed quite skittish and flew around a lot over the pond before it settled for a moment on some vegetation close to me. The multiple spots on the dragonfly’s wings make it easy to track visually, making it look almost like a butterfly. When I took my shots and afterwards in post-production, I tried a few different ways to present the butterfly. For the first image, I shot from a front angle and cropped to a square to give greater emphasis to the dragonfly.

For the second image, I moved a little more to the side and shot from a higher angle so that more of the surface area of the wings was visible. I also used a portrait aspect ratio to show more of the interesting vegetation on which the dragonfly was perched.

I like each of the two images for different reasons. Is there one of the two that stands out to you more than the other?

 

Twelve-spotted Skimmer

Twelve-spotted Skimmer

© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.

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Shining through

Posted in Autumn, Dragonflies, dragonfly, Nature, Photography, wildlife, tagged , , , , , on October 9, 2019| 4 Comments »

I was looking into the sun when I took this shot of a Twelve-spotted Skimmer dragonfly (Libellula pulchella) last week at Huntley Meadows Park. The body and the perch were silhouetted, but the light showed through the dragonfly’s wings and highlighted the beautiful patterns.

I really like the graphic, almost abstract quality of this image. It has a different feel than most of my other images that tend to provide more detailed views of the subject.

Twelve-spotted Skimmer

© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.

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Twelve-spotted Skimmer in September

Posted in Dragonflies, dragonfly, Insects, Nature, Photography, wildlife, tagged , , , , , , on September 25, 2019| 5 Comments »

On Monday I was really happy to spot this male Twelve-spotted Skimmer dragonfly (Libellula pulchella) at Occoquan Bay National Wildlife Refuge. Most dragonflies have clear wings and it is always special to see one with boldly patterned wings, like the Twelve-spotted Skimmer. This species is not particularly rare, but this is the first one that I have photographed this season.

Those of you who are mathematically inclined may wonder why this species is called “twelve-spotted” when there are clearly more than twelve spots. For the purposes of counting, however, only the dark spots matter and there are three on each wing. The female of the species also has twelve spots, but lacks the distinctive white spots of the male.

 

Twelve-spotted Skimmer

© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.

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Last summer dragonfly?

Posted in Dragonflies, dragonfly, Insects, Nature, Photography, wildlife, tagged , , , , , , on October 22, 2017| 6 Comments »

It was inevitable as we moved deeper into autumn that all of the summer dragonflies would eventually disappear. The nights have been getting colder and not long ago we went through a spell of rainy weather. Over the past two weeks I have searched all over Occoquan Bay Wildlife Refuge, my recent favorite photography location, desperately hoping each time to find a few survivors.

Well, it is beginning to look like the male Twelve-spotted Skimmer (Libellula pulchella) that I spotted on the 15th of October will be the last summer dragonfly for me, at least at that location. Earlier this month I had seen multiple Twelve-spotted Skimmers patrolling over a small pond at the wildlife refuge, but this old guy was perching alone in the vegetation adjacent to the pond and seemed reluctant to take to the air. It appeared that there were no rivals to fight off and no females to attract.

The colorful pattern on its wings is still very distinctive and the wings are amazingly intact. You may notice the uneven color on its body. As the males get older, their bodies develop a waxy blue powder called pruinescence. (Check out this link to get more information on this dragonfly from the wonderful website Dragonflies of Norther Virginia (dragonfliesnva.com).

It’s hard for me not to feel a little wistful as I bid farewell to the summer dragonflies, with whom I have spent so many pleasant moments this year. There are still autumn dragonflies around, most notably the little red Autumn Meadowhawks and Blue-faced Meadowhawks, and an occasional migrating dragonfly, like a Wandering Glider or Common Green Darner, so dragonfly season is not yet over. You will notice, however, that the proportion of postings on birds will continue to increase and those on insects will decrease in the upcoming months.

Twelve-spotted Skimmer

Twelve-spotted Skimmer

© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.

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Male Twelve-spotted Skimmer

Posted in abstract, Art, Dragonflies, dragonfly, Insects, Nature, Photography, tagged , , , , , , on August 27, 2017| 3 Comments »

When it comes to dragonflies, what catches your eye? Is it their bright colors or their acrobatic flying skills? When it comes to male Twelve-spotted Skimmers (Libellula pulchella), it is definitely the bold brown-and-white pattern on their wings that irresistibly attracts me. I somehow feel compelled to chase after one whenever I spot it.

Yesterday I made a brief trip to Lilypons Water Gardens in Adamstown, Maryland. This sprawling facility has over 150 acres of amazing ponds and water gardens with fantastic displays of water lilies, which are for sale. (I’ll feature some of the different colored water lilies in an upcoming post.) Although I saw a lot of dragonflies there, I saw only a few Twelve-spotted Skimmers.

Most of them were remarkably elusive, but one finally perched on some vegetation overhanging the water. The bank was fairly steep, so there was no way that I could get a side shot or a head-on shot, which is one of my favorite shots of a dragonfly. What was I going to do?

Then it dawned on me that I had a perfect view of the magnificent wing patterns as I looked straight down the body of the dragonfly, facing in the same direction that he was facing. Boldly I decided to commit what is normally a cardinal sin for a photographer—I intentionally chose not to focus on the subject’s eyes. Lightning did not strike me as I pressed the shutter and I captured an almost abstract portrait of the dragonfly. For me, there is a real beauty in the simplicity and minimalism of this image.

In case you get confused about counting the twelve spots, you’re supposed to count only the brown spots. According to Wikipedia, though,some folks prefer to count the white spots and therefore call this dragonfly a “Ten-spot Skimmer.”

Twelve-spotted Skimmer

© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved

 

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To everything there is a season

Posted in Autumn, Dragonflies, Nature, Photography, wildlife, tagged , , , , , , , , on November 6, 2015| 5 Comments »

Growing up in the 1960’s, I remember well The Byrds folk-rock version of the song Turn! Turn! Turn! (To Everything There is a Season), a Pete Seeger song with lyrics adapted almost word-for-word from Chapter 3 of the Biblical Book of Ecclesiastes. (If you have never heard The Byrds version of this song, here’s a link to a YouTube video of a performance.)

“To everything there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven…”

According to statistical records, the season of the boldly-patterned Twelve-spotted Skimmer dragonfly (Libellula pulchella) in my area ended in early to mid-October. I was therefore shocked last Friday, 30 October, when I spotted a beautiful male Twelve-spotted Skimmer flying about in a field at Huntley Meadows Park.

I sometimes have trouble identifying species, but the wing patterns of this species are so distinctive that I knew exactly what it was, so I chased it around for a little while until I was able to get some shots of it. When I posted this photo on the Facebook page of Northeast Odonata, several members of the group commented on the “fresh” and undamaged condition of the dragonfly.

Statistics only get you so far, especially when looking at individuals. This dragonfly beat the odds and is a survivor—his personal “season” is off of the charts.

Like this dragonfly, we all have personal “seasons.” The dragonfly’s unexpected appearance brought to mind the words of a pastor at a funeral I attended earlier this year, who poignantly remarked that “we all come with expiration dates.” That reminder continues to challenge me as I think about how I should live my life.

“To everything there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven…”

 

Twelve-spotted Skimmer

© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.

 

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Memories of the way we were

Posted in Autumn, Dragonflies, Insects, Nature, Photography, wildlife, tagged , , , , , , , , , on September 24, 2015| 5 Comments »

The autumnal equinox arrived yesterday, marking another change of seasons. I love the autumn, but there is something a little wistful about it, as so many of the bright summer colors begin to fade and the leaves dry out and fall off of the trees. Somehow for me it is a reminder of the inexorable passage of time and of the fragility of life.

Earlier this week I saw a faded male Twelve-spotted Skimmer dragonfly (Libellula pulchella) that put me in a pensive mood, remembering how this boldly-patterned species really stood out in the spring. Now he has has almost become a part of the background, less notable, less distinctive, less likely to attract attention.

How many of us are like that? Our society worships youthful beauty and older people are often pushed out of the spotlight in favor of unblemished youths. It’s nice to have memories of the way we were, remembering our youthful beauty and capabilities, but I think it’s important to celebrate who we are and who we are becoming.

So here’s a look at that male Twelve-spotted Skimmer and a female Twelve-Spotted Skimmer that I observed last week. Wouldn’t you agree that they are still beautiful despite (or perhaps because of) their senior citizen status.

Twelve-spotted Skimmer

Twelve-spotted Skimmer

© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.

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Abstract dragonfly

Posted in Art, Dragonflies, Insects, Nature, Photography, tagged , , , , , , , on August 16, 2015| 8 Comments »

I tend to focus on the realism of close-up details in most of my dragonfly shots, but sometimes the dragonfly seems almost abstract, a mix of colors, shapes, and patterns, like this male Twelve-spotted Skimmer (Libellula pulchella) that I encountered the past Friday.

For those readers who may not be familiar with this boldly-patterned dragonfly species, I am also including a more “traditional” shot of the same Twelve-spotted Skimmer.

Twelve-spotted Skimmer

Twelve-spotted Skimmer

© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.

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Twelve-spotted Skimmer in May

Posted in dragonfly, Insects, Macro Photography, Photography, spring, wildlife, tagged , , , , , , on May 19, 2015| 10 Comments »

New dragonflies continue to emerge as we move deeper into spring and yesterday I spotted my first Twelve-spotted Skimmer dragonfly (Libellula pulchella) of the season, a strikingly beautiful young male. It’s easy to tell that this one is a male because the female does not have the white spots. Local dragonfly expert and fellow photographer and blogger, Walter Sanford, commented to me that, “This guy is a “freshie.” His abdomen will turn white with pruinescence when he matures.”

I am a curious guy and I started to wonder how you are supposed to count the spots to get to the twelve in this species’ name. Do the white ones count? Do the interconnected brown ones in the middle count as one or as two? Who decides?

This is not as simple as it seems and this species is sometimes known as the Ten-spotted Skimmer. Really? A bugguide.net article explains it this way:

“Once upon a time, this was the Ten-spot(ted) Skimmer, and formerly appeared in most books under that common name. To make it so, the basal spot of opposite wings was counted as one spot crossing the thorax (and so it appears at a glance, especially when they are flying or seen from a distance). Some authors rationalize it as counting the cloudy white spots on the wings, but that’s only good for mature males, and it often doesn’t work (there are often only eight white spots, the two at the base of the hind wing either missing or having been rubbed off).”

Confused? Hopefully we all can agree on the distinctive beauty of the species.

I’ll be keeping my eyes open for more of these dragonflies, although I learned yesterday from Kevin Munroe’s wonderful Dragonflies of Northern Virginia website that it is unusual to see more than a few of them at any one site. Apparently the Twelve-spotted Skimmers are a bit more picky about their habitat needs than many of the other skimmers in our area.

Twelve-spotted Skimmer

© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.

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Twelve-spotted Skimmer

Posted in Dragonflies, Insects, Macro Photography, Nature, Photography, wildlife, tagged , , , , , on September 27, 2014| 5 Comments »

It won’t be long before most of the dragonflies are gone for the season, so I am really enjoying them while they are still around. A little over a week ago, I was able to capture images of some male Twelve-spotted Skimmer dragonflies (Libellula pulchella), a species that I had not seen previously this summer.

Twelve-spotted Skimmer

In the first shot, the dragonfly seems to be eating something that is bright red in color. I can’t tell for sure, but when I zoom in, it looks like it might be a ladybug. Whatever the case, I am happy that I was able to frame the shot to be able to get some of the yellow meadow flowers into the background.

In the other shots, I worked to get the wings into focus by shooting on a plane horizontal to their position. The dragonflies were reasonably cooperative and I am pretty happy with the resulting images.

12spot1_blog 12spot2_blog 12spot3_blog

© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.

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