We saw this flying jewel at a local pond on Sunday, August 2. He belongs to a somewhat confusing species, which is known officially as 12-Spotted Skimmer Dragonflies (Libellula pulchella).
We can see that he is a mature male because he has 10 pale blue spots: two on each wing and two at the bases of his hind wings. But males, females and juveniles of his species all have 12 dark spots: three on each of their four wings.Thus, all of the species has 12 spots and only its adult males have 10 additional blue spots. Here’s a mature female:
Leighton Archive Image
From the reports that we’ve read, there seems to be a bit of a debate as to whether these 12-Spots are among the migrating dragonflies or whether they are residents that lay fertilized eggs for the following year before they die in the cold of autumn. It appears that most experts think that they (or some of them) migrate, but we haven’t found any definitive confirmation. Perhaps you know of some. (Brooklin, Maine)