August 11, 2019 - Dragonflies

I’m always happy to see dragonflies at our lake home in northern Minnesota, where all these photos were taken, because they are fierce predators of mosquitos and deer flies. This is an adult male Chalk-fronted Corporal. His field marks include a mostly black body, white “corporal stripes” behind his head, a white area in the middle of his abdomen, and mostly clear wings. These insects average 1.6 inches long. Their preferred hunting technique is to sit on the ground or a rock and then chase a potential victim when it flies over. They are very social insects and we often see a dozen or more of them perched on a large rock in our front yard.

CorporalChalkfrontedLadonajuliaDunningLakeItascaCounty20190628

This is a Baskettail dragonfly. There are three species that occur in our area (Common Baskettail, Spiny Baskettail, and Beaverpond Baskettail) and they all look very much alike so I’m unable to tell you for sure which one this is.

UPDATE on 8-17-2019: I submitted this photo to BugGuide.net and they identified this as a Spiny Baskettail.

DragonflyBaskettailCommonEpithecacynosuraCrabappleTreeDunningLakeItascaCounty20190610

This is a Calico Pennant dragonfly. Note the heart-shaped spots on the abdomen. Because these spots are yellow, this is either a female or an immature male (mature males have red spots). This is a smaller dragonfly, averaging only 1.2 inches long. They like to perch at the very tip of a plant when they are hunting for food.

DragonflyPennantCalicoCelithemiselisaDunningLakeItascaCounty20190629

The Twelve-spotted Skimmer is aptly named, as you can see from the number of spots on the wings. The spots are brown, so this is either a female or an immature male; the next photo will show you a mature male. At 2 inches long, this is a noticeably larger dragonfly.

DragonflySkimmerTwelvespottedfemaleLibellulapulchellaDunningLakeItascaCounty20190808

This is a mature male Twelve-spotted Skimmer. You would be correct in saying that he has more than twelve spots, but we only count the dark spots because those match the spots on a female. The book Dragonflies of the North Woods has an interesting historical note. It says some older sources call this dragonfly a Ten-spotted Skimmer based on the ten white spots. This is a very common dragonfly, found in southern Canada and all 48 contiguous United States.

SkimmerTwelvespottedLibellulapulchellaDunningLakeItascaCounty20190706

The striking black and white wing pattern identifies this as a male Widow Skimmer. No other dragonfly species has a wing pattern like this. Adults average 1.8 inches long. They are found across most of the United States and in southern Ontario and Quebec.

SkimmerWidowmaleDunningLakeItascaCounty20190711