#Black-Tailed Skimmer

[blogbirdfeather]

Black-tailed Skimmer - Ortétrum-de-cauda-negra (Orthetrum cancellatum): male

Cruz Quebrada/Portugal (29/08/2024)

[Nikon D500; AF-S Nikkor 500mm F5,6E PF ED VR; 1/2500s; F5,6; 400 ISO]

[dansnaturepictures]

22/07/24-Hogweed, lady's bedstraw, views, creeping thistle and Ringlet on walks at Lakeside Country Park, petunia and other flowers in an eyecatching colour hanging basket at home and Jackdaw out the front.

Sparrowhawk, House Martin, Great Crested Grebes including the chicks, Gatekeeper, Speckled Wood at Lakeside and in the front garden, beautiful Black-tailed Skimmers, Common Red Soldier beetles enjoyed a lot including mating, meadow crane's-bill, knapweed and red clover were other highlights today.

[kristo-flowers]

Black-tailed skimmer

[unkn0wnvariable]

Black-tailed Skimmer (Female)

A female black-tailed skimmer dragonfly, basking in the sunlight on a plant stem in Brampton Wood.

[petec9099]

Butterflies and Dragonflies in Greenwich

[michaelnordeman]

Black-tailed skimmer/större sjötrollslända, Four-spotted chaser/fyrfläckad trollslända and Large white-faced darter/citronfläckad kärrtrollslända. Nötön-Åråsviken nature reserve in Värmland, Sweden (June 18, 2024).

[snototter]

An immature male black tailed skimmer (Orthetrum cancellatum) in The Burren, Ireland

by Charles Sharp

[malavoie1]

The Twelve-spotted Skimmer

On a very overcast, hot and muggy day, I captured this image of a Twelve-spotted Skimmer (Libellula pulchella) dragonfly. Using an 18-135mm kit lens, I got close to the dragonfly perched on a thin reed by the edge of a small man-made pond. The background is the calm water of a man-made pond, adding a peaceful feel to the scene. The dragonfly’s wings have striking black and white spots, and its delicate details stand out beautifully against the soft, muted backdrop.

The Twelve-spotted Skimmer is a common North American dragonfly, found in southern Canada and across all 48 contiguous U.S. states. This large species measures about 50 mm (2.0 in) long. Each wing has three brown spots. In adult males, additional white spots form between the brown ones and at the bases of the hindwings, sometimes earning them the name "ten-spot skimmer." If given time to count, you can see a total of twelve black spots on all four wings of the male, with eight bright white spots in between. Females and immature males have the twelve brown-black spots but lack the white ones, making it still acceptable to call them all twelve-spotted. Males have a powdery blue abdomen or 'tail,' while females have a mostly black tail with a long yellow stripe on each side. Adults feed on small flying insects.

Twelve-spotted Skimmers are usually found near water. Females lay eggs in ponds, lakes, or slow-moving streams and rivers, where they hatch into naiads. The naiads look more like crustaceans than dragonflies and spend their early life stage underwater. After feeding and growing, they eventually crawl out of the water and molt into winged adults. This species is common across North America and is mostly active in the summer. Look for these large, robust skimmers near water's edge by lagoons, creeks, ponds, and lakes.

Processed with Affinity Photo v2 and Topaz Photo AI.

Camera: Pentax K-3

Lens: smc PENTAX-DA 18-135mm F3.5-5.6 ED AL [IF] DC WR

135mm / ƒ/11 / 1/80s / ISO 400

Taken: July 16, 2024

[spacefinch]

A collage I made a few years ago, or some of my favorite animals featured in Wild Kratts.

I love the animation for this show, all the animals have so much personality while still looking pretty dang accurate.

Animals in this collage:

Chinese pangolins (accidentally put that picture in there twice)

Black-footed ferrets

Secretary bird

Antelope jackrabbit

Pronghorns

Peregrine falcon and chicks

American pine marten

American kestrel

Burrowing owl

Canada lynx

Golden-tailed sapphire (hummingbird)

Streaked tenrec

Loggerhead shrike

Elf owl

Bobcat

Fire salamander

Purple martin

Superb bird-of-paradise

Hawksbill sea turtle

Black-capped chickadee

Great emerald pondhawk (dragonfly)

Emerald-chinned hummingbird

Great blue heron

Arctic wolf

Cheetah

African crested porcupine

Pileated woodpecker

European hedgehog

Blue jay

Dyeing poison dart frog

Bald eagle

Nile crocodile

American robin

Manta ray

Bat-eared fox

African wildcat

Red panda

Osprey

Golden bamboo lemur

Ocelot

Tokay gecko

Thomson’s gazelle

Wandering glider/globe skimmer (dragonfly)

Green heron

Spotted eagle-owl

Gray wolves

Prairie falcon

Green-breasted mango (hummingbird)

Dholes

Husky dog

Three-toed sloth

Eastern screech-owl

[eyed-hawkmoth]

male black-tailed skimmer (orthetrum cancellatum)

[dansnaturepictures]

21/07/2023-Lakeside and home

Photos taken in this set: 1. Carrot. 2, 3, 4, 9 and 10. Views on two great walks today. 5. Starling in the garden. 6. Teasel. 7. A lovely young Moorhen I enjoyed seeing, they have great stark colours and I saw Moorhens well generally today. 8. One of a couple of Collared Dove I really liked seeing at Lakeside, I'm more used to seeing them at home so it's always a novelty seeing them at Lakeside.

Alongside the geese and butterflies and moths mentioned in my last two posts about today, I enjoyed seeing House Martins delightful birds sailing through the air and hearing Chiffchaff well beside the lakes on both walks. Other highlights today were; seeing both families of Great Crested Grebes and lots of Mallards well again, Blackbird, Robin, Blue Tit, good views of Feral Pigeon and Magpie, Black-tailed Skimmer, Common Red Soldier beetles, burdock I believe greater burdock, dark mullein, knapweed, thistle including fluffy seed heads which were illuminated by the evening sun that I enjoyed today, daisy, agrimony, hemp agrimony, St. John's-wort, meadow crane's-bill, herb-Robert, purple loosestrife, red bartsia which is coming into its own here now and cuckoo-pint. Woodpigeon, House Sparrow and Lesser Black-backed Gull out the front were other great birds to see at home today with bees flitting around the lavender seen well in the front garden and buddleia and agrimony and other flowers I liked seeing in the garden.

[alonglistofbirds]

[1277/10977] Black-tailed Gull - Larus crassirostris

Order: Charadriiformes Suborder: Lari Family: Laridae (gulls, terns and skimmers)

Photo credit: Eric VanderWerf via Macaulay Library

[unkn0wnvariable]

Black-tailed Skimmer

A female black-tailed skimmer dragonfly, soaking up the sunlight at Felmersham Gravel Pits.

[pogomcl]

Black-tailed Skimmer, Orthetrum cancellatum Canon 5D3 Sigma 105 2.8 f/7.1 1/ 320 iso 160 Srbsko, Czech Republic 6/4/2023

[supremebirdbracket]

Also gonna post the Charadriiformes/Shorebirds prelims rn to get a head start on organizing the third bracket.

Those that received multiple nominations and are automatically IN the competition are as follows:

American Avocet

Pied Avocet

Black-necked stilt

Snowy sheathbill

Piping plover

American golden plover

Egyptian plover

Killdeer

Northern lapwing

Masked lapwing

Ruddy turnstone

American woodcock

Long-tailed jaeger

Parasitic jaeger

Arctic tern

Black Skimmer

Little Auk/Dovekie

Razorbill

Atlantic Puffin

Tufted puffin

Those who received single nominations (there were over 30) will be chosen via preliminaries! The Shorebirds bracket will begin after the Superb Owl is decided.

[floridensis]

when i was like 9-10 i had a guide to florida birds that i would just look at constantly. i would take it with me everywhere. i still have it

i have a mental list of a bunch of birds i liked and formed a vaguely parasocial relationship with but hadnt to my knowledge seen in my one decade of life but really wanted to. the mental list has never left me and i get so excited every time i see something on the Mental List that i havent seen before

the birds:

common loon [i found a dead one once does that count]

pied billed grebe ✅

white-tailed tropicbird

northern gannet

american white pelican

magnificent frigatebird ✅

american bittern

least bittern

snowy egret ✅

little blue heron ✅

reddish egret

glossy ibis ✅

roseate spoonbill ✅

wood stork ✅

fulvous whistling duck

wood duck ✅

bufflehead

hooded merganser ✅

ruddy duck ✅

crested caracara

american kestrel ✅

northern bobwhite

purple gallinule ✅

black necked stilt ✅

black skimmer

white-crowned pigeon ✅

common ground dove ✅

downy woodpecker ✅

pileated woodpecker ✅

loggerhead shrike ✅

florida scrub-jay [i apparently saw them as a child but barely remember]

cedar waxwing ✅

blackburnian warbler

black and white warbler ✅

ovenbird ✅

summer tanager

scarlet tanager

rose-breasted grosbeak

indigo bunting

painted bunting

bobolink

red winged blackbird ✅

scarlet ibis

dovekie

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dovekie

dovekie