A blue day? Only in one respect

Here's a couple more Dragonfly shots that I forgot to share in my last post.  

The theme today is blue. It's a clear, blue sky outside, so today's dragonflies are blue as well. 

Remember the female Blue Dasher I shared yesterday? This is the male Blue Dasher below: 

Yep, they actually are blue! 

This blue dragon is a male Eastern Pondhawk. They're such a colorful species! The males being bright 

gray-blue and the females are lime green! 

What? You want a bird too? Ok, ok.... 

Here's a "blue bird" I photographed in Ecuador last year.

Kudos if you can ID it... ;) 

Summer Pt 2: The part that actually has the Meadowhawks, Clubtails and Skimmers

Summer is Dragonfly season here in the upper midwest.  Since I've dived into dragonflies this summer, I've found quite a few species and am finding new ones all the time. This past week, I found one dragonfly I've been wanting to see: 

This colorful, highly patterned dragon is called a Halloween Pennant. 

I've been wanting to see this one for a while. They perch on an upright stick with their lower legs just below their upper ones. This makes them look like a pennant hanging from a stick. 

Widow Skimmers are one of the most common dragons out here right now.

Their black and white pattern is unmistakeable. 

This Ruby Meadowhawk posed quite nicely for me. It's always exciting to see a bright red dragonfly. 

Sometimes, the duller ones are cool too. This female Blue Dasher looked right at me just as I hit the shutter. 

And of course, Twelve-spotted Skimmers are spectacular as always. 

I've been trying to photograph every dragonfly I see.  Unfortunately, some of them do get away.  I found a Lancet Clubtail last week that refused to cooperate and a Lance-tipped Darner that kept flying just ahead of the boat.  

Come Sept, the birds will pick up again. I promise! :)