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Bar-winged Skimmer
Libellula axilena
The Bar-winged Skimmer (Libellula axilena) is essentially a dragonfly of the eastern United States from New York south to Florida and west to east Texas. It prefers forested ponds and swampy woodlands and is sometimes wary and difficult to approach. Within Texas, the Bar-winged Skimmer is only known from a few counties in far east Texas. The first 8 images on this page were taken at a small wooded pond in the Angelina National Forest in Jasper Co., Texas, in June, 2008, with a Canon EOS 1D Mark III and EF 300mm F/4 l IS lens and 2X extender and flash.
Note the small white patches on the inner portion of the hind wing on this shot and the one just below. These white patches are characteristic of this species when compared to the similar species.
The female shown here was seen ovipositing in the pond, but when it perched it was rather high. I was not able to get any other shots of a female on this occasion.
Note the black face of this insect which is markedly different from the white face of some other similar species such as Great Blue Skimmer.
In early May, 2009, I was back at the same location where the above images were taken. It was a dark and cloudy morning, but I found several teneral male and female Bar-winged Skimmers. The next 3 shots were taken with a Canon EOS 50D and an EF 70-200mm F/2.8 L IS lens and 2X extender and 580 flash. The shot shown here shows a young male while the next 2 shots show a female.
The male Bar-winged Skimmer with a prey item shown here was at the same location as the previous shots, but in June, 2009. The same photo gear was used for this shot.
The next three shots of Bar-winged Skimmer (1st shot a female, next two shots males) were taken in Jasper Co., Texas, in May, 2013.