Species Spotlight: The Great Blue Skimmer

We've all heard of the Great Blue Heron. Well, there's a "great blue" in the dragonfly world as well—the Great Blue Skimmer.

As it's name suggests, it's a skimmer that is large, and conspicuously blue. We saw one for the first time on our recent trip to the Back Bay Wildlife Refuge near Virginia Beach, VA. Here's a look at it from above:



Notice the large black stigmas that merge into a black fringe at the tip of the wings.

From the front, the brilliant white face of this species is on full display:



All in all, a lovely dragonfly to add to our life list. Too bad we won't be seeing any of them on the west coast.