This Week's Dragonfly

"I wonder what it would be like to live in a world where it was always June."

-L. M. Montgomery

I was back walking along the shore of Lake Anza, in Tilden Park, yesterday. After finding so many different varieties of dragonflies on my visit last week, I knew it would be a big mistake not to bring my camera each time I plan to visit. I have set a goal for myself this summer, to photograph the tiny blue dragonfly, but yesterday, I noticed an even smaller thinner dragonfly which was almost a turquoise color. I am not sure if it is the same as the larger blue ones, but it seems like a bigger challenge to try for the tiniest ones as apposed to the easier large ones.

The dragonfly in the above photo is one of the largest ones I saw yesterday. It appears black and white in the picture, but the body of the dragonfly is actually a very pale blue color. I did a little investigation and found out from BugGuide that it is a Libellua pulchella, or the Twelve Spotted Skimmer. It is a fairly common dragonfly in the U.S., although I have never saw one before, so it was kind of fun to be able to see one. They are a summer dragonfly, so I suppose I will have lots of time to enjoy observing them. I like my summer dragonfly hunting.

:)

Note: Please click on the photo to see the picture in a larger version. The small size really doesn't do that beautiful creature justice.

-OndineMonet
"Twelve Spotted Skimmer"
Lake Anza
Tilden Park
Berkeley, California
June 17th, 2008
Afternoon