#great blue skimmer

[onenicebugperday]

@captain-cargoshorts submitted: Saved this guy from my mom's pool in [removed] (please remove)

It rested for a while on the bench in the third picture them flew off just fine

What a pretty friend! I'm glad you saved it from the pool. Looks like a great blue skimmer :)

[existencebringsonlypain]

thought you guys could appreciate this

[critter-creature-or-beast]

Submitted for classification by @kindly-whisper-norbury

[alcnfr]

A Great Blue Skimmer (Libellula vibrans) dragonfly hanging around the Bluebird House this morning...

[whatnext10]

This Great Blue Skimmer is a Throwback to Summer

This Great Blue Skimmer is a Throwback to Summer shows readers an image from early August and explains the basic process that took it from its original state to this state.

Blue Dragon I took this photo of a male great blue skimmer (Libellula vibrans) back in the beginning of August, and I loved the patterns of the veins visible in the wings, but it definitely needed some work to help bring out the pattern. It took a while to get it to where I wanted it. I’d work on it, think it was okay and then go back the next day and see more that needed to be done. I think…

[dansnaturepictures]

26/07/2024-Lunch time and evening walks at Lakeside Country Park: Ocean blue, the sky, water and Common Blue butterflies in the meadows of the bowl invigorating to see; with a faded but warm Ringlet and sumptuous self-heal.

The meadows all at once buzzing with butterflies; Meadow Brown, many Gatekeepers, a late Marbled White for here, Small Skipper and Six-spot Burnet moths. Small White, Comma, Speckled Wood and Holly Blue good to see too. Black-tailed Skimmer dragonfly darting around and Blue-tailed Damselfly seen, the essence of summer. Overhead Swift and noisy House Martins were effortlessly gliding; Chiffchaff, young Black-headed and Herring Gull, the Great Crested Grebes and Greylag Geese were great to see too. Other fabulous flowers seen today included my first gypsywort of the year, massive hogweed, fleabane, creeping thistle and red bartsia with guelder rose berries and blackberries enjoyed too. At home Goldfinch, Jackdaw and fuchsia were nice to see.

[serpentface]

The pelatoche, an apotropaic visual motif widely used in contemporary imperial Wardin.

Belief in curses and attachments by evil spirits is a significant part of the cultural schema. This includes a variant of 'evil eye' beliefs- the gaze has great symbolic power and is known to inflict a state of metaphysical vulnerability, in which the body or soul is susceptible to change and transformation. Though metaphysical vulnerability itself is neutral (it can result in both positive and negative change), most attempt to avoid this state of being as it leaves one vulnerable to curses and spiritual pollution. Because it is impossible to avoid a sinister gaze altogether, many wear clothing and jewelry with this motif to neutralize ill effects.

The core motif consists of a vertical humanoid eye. If given only one distinct tear duct, it faces upwards. If the iris is colored, it is most commonly blue, gray, or white. Blue and gray eyes are considered most potent at inflicting curses (and thus can be potent at deflecting them), and white pelatoche are usually made with inlaid pearl (a substance believed in of itself to have a shielding nature). Mirrored surfaces for the iris, pupil, or entire eye are also common as a means of reflecting curses.

There is great variety in how the pelatoche is depicted. The above representation is a clasp for a cloak, made of gold with inlaid blue glass, and on the relatively ornate and realistic end of the spectrum. If multiple pelatoche are depicted together it is almost always in sets of seven, and in this case may be referred to as odatochent, which roughly means 'the eyes of God'. Odatochent are believed to be particularly potent against evil spirits (rather than just evil gazes) and tend to be worn as jewelry, often very gaudy with each eye containing different inlaid jewels (which themselves may each have significance).

The eye being turned on its side in of itself is a form of deflection. The distinctly yonic look of many variants isn't an accident either, as depictions of genitalia are also believed to have apotropaic qualities.

The common name itself - pelatoche - partly derives from and refers to Pelennaumache (one of the seven faces of God, this one presiding over the sea and heavily associated with luck, curses and fortune). The other key Imperial Wardi apotropaic symbol is the skimmer-woman, which is related to Pelennaumache and depicted as a woman with blue eyes, albatross wings (or the body of an albatross) and exaggerated genitalia. The pelatoche is a syncretic fusion between preexisting traditions of apotropaic eye symbols brought to the region by the former Burri empire and the regionally native skimmer-woman motif.

A sketch of the apotropaic skimmer-woman as it might appear on an amulet

[jupiterswasphouse]

[VIDEO AND PHOTOS TAKEN: JUNE 2ND, 2024 | Video and Image IDs: A video and six photos of a blue, black, white, and tan great blue skimmer dragonfly perching on a rusted dark metal garden decoration, in the video, you can see its mouthparts move and its head change positions in a split second before moving back just as fast /End IDs.]

[arecaceae175]

Hi I see you like bugs ! Moths are very pretty, what are your favourite species?

I DO LIKE BUGS!!!!!!!

Do you mean my favorite moth species or my favorite bug species in general? I will answer both :D

I don’t know very many moth species but I really enjoy the ones that look “boring” because there are actually so many of them!! And they’re all slightly different!! And I think that’s cool. My favorite charismatic moth species is the Ailanthus Webworm Moth!

It looks like a beetle or a true bug, and then when it flies it looks like a wasp, but it’s actually a moth!!! Sneaky sneaky. It actually didn’t used to be very common in my area because it usually lived further south, but as climate change warms everything up it is a lot more common to see now. It’s still considered native though! So yay.

I also really like dragonflies!! Specifically damselflies. They’re cool and pretty. This is one of the prettiest dragonflies I’ve ever found. It’s called a Great Blue Skimmer. It was MASSIVE

Fireflies are also very awesome.

Oh and katydids! Here’s a cool one I found recently. It’s called a fork-tailed bush katydid

Did you know that 1/3 of all insects are beetles? I learned that the other day and it’s a very fun fact hehehhehe

I love bugs a lot. They’ve become like a mild special interest lately. They make me so happy 🤗🤗🤗

[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

[haveyouseenthisbirdpoll]

List of Birds organized by Order + locations:

Accipitriformes:

Bearded vulture

Cooper's hawk

Osprey

Red-shouldered hawk

Steller's sea eagle

Anseriformes:

Bar-headed goose

Barnacle goose

Black swan

Common merganser

Red-breasted goose

Snow goose

Trumpeter swan

Apodiformes:

Common swift

Ruby-throated hummingbird

Bucerotiformes:

Eurasian hoopoe

Cariamiformes:

Red-legged seriema

Casuariiformes:

Emu

Southern cassowary

Cathartiformes:

Black vulture

Turkey vulture

Charadriiformes:

American oystercatcher

Atlantic puffin

Black-headed gull

Black skimmer

Black-tailed godwit

European herring gull

Killdeer

Northern lapwing

Ruddy turnstone

Ciconiiformes:

White stork

Columbiformes:

Common wood pigeon

Eurasian collared dove

Luzon bleeding-heart

Nicobar pigeon

Victoria crowned pigeon

Coraciiformes:

Blue-capped kingfisher

Common kingfisher

Cuculiformes:

Asian koel

Greater roadrunner

Yellow-billed cuckoo

Eurypygiformes:

Kagu

Falconiformes:

American kestrel

Common kestrel

Galliformes:

Palawan peacock-pheasant

Western capercaillie

Gaviiformes:

Common loon

Gruiformes:

American coot

Australasian swamphen/pūkeko

Blue crane

Common moorhen

Sandhill crane

Sora

Whooping crane

Passeriformes:

American bushtit

American robin

Australian raven

Baltimore oriole

Barn swallow

Black-billed magpie

Black-capped chickadee

Black-throated sparrow

Blue-headed vireo

Blue jay

Bluethroat

Brown thrasher

California towhee

Canada warbler

Canyon wren

Cedar waxwing

Common blackbird

Common chlorospingus

Common raven

Eastern wood pewee

Eurasian blue tit

Eurasian bullfinch

Eurasian golden oriole

Eurasian jay

Eurasian magpie

European robin

Goldcrest

Great-tailed grackle

Great tit

Hooded crow

House sparrow

Indigo bunting

Kirtland's warbler

LeConte's sparrow

Long-tailed tit

Mexican jay

Painted bunting

Phainopepla

Pine siskin

Pin-tailed whydah

Pinyon jay

Pygmy nuthatch

Red winged blackbird

Rook

Saltmarsh sparrow

Satin bowerbird

Spotted towhee

Steller's jay

Tufted titmouse

Wallcreeper

Warbling vireo

Western tanager

White-breasted nuthatch

White-throated dipper

White-throated magpie-jay

Yellow-rumped warbler

Pelecaniformes:

Brown pelican

Great blue heron

Great egret

Great white pelican

Least bittern

Roseate spoonbill

Shoebill stork

Snowy egret

Phoenicopteriformes:

American flamingo

Chilean flamingo

Piciformes:

Acorn woodpecker

Clark's nutcracker

Lewis's woodpecker

Northern flicker

Pileated woodpecker

Red-bellied woodpecker

Red-headed woodpecker

Podargiformes:

Tawny frogmouth

Podicipediformes:

Pied-billed grebe

Procellariiformes:

Wilson's storm-petrel

Psittaciformes:

Australian king parrot

Chestnut-fronted macaw

Citron-crested cockatoo

Cockatiel

Galah

Gang-gang cockatoo

Pacific parrotlet

Rose-ringed parakeet

Sulphur-crested cockatoo

Strigiformes:

Barn owl

Barred owl

Eurasian eagle-owl

Suliformes:

Anhinga

Blue-footed booby

Double-crested cormorant

Trogoniformes:

Elegant trogon

Locations:

Africa

America

Antarctica

Asia

Australia

Central America

Eurasia

Europe

North America

Oceania

South America

[spiritshaydra]

Oh yeah funny story

So I went on a field trip yesterday out to this field station on an island out in the hyper-saline lagoon that’s like,, right down the road to collect botanical samples for my wetland ecology lab.

Left a little while after 2pm.

We were on the island for about two hours collecting plants (and finishing the trip off with some king cake) before hopping back on the boat. It was about 4:30pm

So,, normal lab field trip right?

WRONG.

Our boat stops suddenly and a big plume of mud is sprayed out from behind the skiff. Not a good sign. Four guys hop out of the boat and start trying to push the boat free- Laguna Madre is VERY shallow, especially in this area since we weren’t where they had dredged it out for the larger ships, so the water was about knee deep where we got stuck.

We started moving again. Kinda. I see the guys get these poles out and start using them to turn the boat like those gondolas in Venice. (Sadly no accordion) Also not a good sign.

THEN the guy who was sitting at the wheel gets up and walks up to the front where we were sitting and pulls the anchor out, and then drops it out into the water. NOT A GOOD SIGN.

Then I hear my professor talking about calling the biology lab coordinator to figure out what the fuck to do, and then she’s on the phone with someone talking about how we need someone to come out and tow us back to the boat ramp. 💀

It’s 5:30pm now and the sun’s beginning to set. (And my other lab back on campus had just begun, which I obviously wasn’t able to attend unless I could teleport) My brother also happened to call me which I answered with a “hey you won’t be able to guess where the fuck I currently am.” Never a dull moment.

Another hour passes and FINALLY the lab tech guy shows up with another boat to tow us back (while wearing his Iron Maiden shirt like an absolute legend, we love lab tech guy) it’s now sunset and we’re finally moving. Slowly, but moving’s moving.

The sun set completely and I had dozed off a little as there really wasn’t much else to do. It was also COLD with the wind blowing off the water and the lack of sunlight. Thank GOD I decided to wear both my hoodie and wind breaker, along with a bandana to use as a scarf. Eventually we made it back to the boat ramp at around 7pm. So I’d finally be able to go back to my apartment and have some warm hot chocolaty goodness right?”

HA if only it was that easy.

It probably took them an hour to get the boats back onto their trailers because they kept loading them incorrectly and would have to retry. Me and some other classmates stood out in the cold for about fifteen minutes before we realized that we could hop in the van where it was warm, and wait in there. So that’s EXACTLY what we did. Luckily I packed some snacks because I thought it wouldn’t hurt to bring them along, so I just kinda,,, passed around a bag of trail mix.

Something something hour later we get back to campus at like 8pm where I was finally able to go back to my dorm. (My wonderful roommate brought me hot chocolate bless her)

Anyways I’m tired <33

TLDR: Went on what should’ve been a three hour long field trip for hehe swamp science fun times and our boat's steering went out so we were strANDED FOR TWO FUCKING HOURS IN THE LAGOON. We were out in the sun for like five hours and gone for six. I love being a stem major <333 yippee!!

(For those biology nerds out there we saw mullets jumping out of the water, sea grass beds, black mangroves, various salt flat succulents, stupid plant with wickedly sharp thorns that ripped apart the sample bag it was in, wolf berries, mosquitoes, a tiger moth caterpillar, turkey vultures, dolphins, brown and white pelicans, mosquitoes, a crested caracara, tons of laughing gulls, great blue herons, mosquitoes, egrets, white ibises, cormorants, and black tipped skimmers.)

[stiffyck]

what's your fav thing abt gw2? (i wanna play it but i dont like going into games completely blind so i'd love to hear why in particular you like it-)

theres a lot of stuff that i like and its gonna be a longer post skjdhfsk so im putting it under the cut:

the mounts. theyre so fun. i absolutely love all the mounts. i have all of them rn and hhhhh i love them.

the raptor is good for long jumps, great for just running around random maps. the springer is good for vertical jumps when you need to get somewhere higher up. the skimmer is a water and underwater mount for getting over water (and quicksand which otherwise kills you) fast. the jackal can teleport and jump through sand portals. the griffon is a gliding mount thats best used when youre up high. just jump down, gain some speed and just soar through the map with high speed. its the most fun mount in my opinion. not very well shown in my quick video sdkjfhs. the skyscale is basically just a dragon. it can fly, shoot fire and latch onto walls. a very universal mount. the hardest one to get. the siege turtle is for two players! the person who controls the turtle can stomp with it and just run around (it can go underwater) and the person in the back can shoot the canons on the side of the turtle! the siege turtle is good for, well, sieges. if you need to break a wall the turtle is great for that. the warclaw! you wont use that one very often in the open world. the warclaw is the only mount that can be used in wvw. it can jump, give others players around you a speed boost, it can tear down doors to castles etc.. the roller beetle is a fast racing mount. usually peoeple will use the beetle for races that happen around the world or you can use them for traversing big open planes and maps! fast and fun to use!

next! casual lgbtq+ rep. characters who use they/them pronouns, npcs in same sex relationships, etc. its all just very casual and not a big deal. also every year theres an official pride parade where people dye their armor and their mounts in the colors of their flags! its always very colorful and fun!

customization. you can do quite a lot when it comes to character customization. not only the character itself but also tons of cool armor skins you can collect. sylvari for example can have basically any color skin you can think of. theyre literally plants. you can have a pink sylvari, yellow, green, blue, etc. they also glow in the dark and you can pick the color of that glow too! its so fun to just create cool looking characters and then running around with them. fashion wars is a thing. theres a LOT of cosmetics you can get.

most armor also can be dyed any color you have unlocked! and theres a LOT of dyes!

another thing i really enjoy is the combat style! you dont just stand in one place while you cast a spell or whatever. most attacks and skills let you move while youre casting them. its very flowy and very satisfying to play with. also a lot of variety when it comes to different builds. most classes can also do basically all 3 of the main roles you need for content like strikes, raids, etc. which is a healer, boon dps and dps. a healer with always also provide some boons and boon dps should fill the boons the healer cannot provide.

i personally love playing qdps (dps providing quickness which makes your skill animation and casting faster) and aheal (alacrity heal. alacrity makes the cooldowns go faster.)

the story is also fun! the commander needs to get therapy in the next story part or i swear to god-

theres much more i could find but i feel like ive been rambling for long enough-

[panseemia]

Wind season uwu

The skyblaze desert despite it's rather normal appearance similar to most other deserts hide a intriguing secret. While on one half of the year the desert is much like any other desert:harsh,dry, and scorching, there is a reason why it is call "sky blaze". On the second half of the year is where the fun begins, with humidity and winds passing over the northern mountain border to the sea is the start of the wind season as hundreds of skimmer larva finish their first stage of life deep in the sand and begin to take flight making a bounty of food for the entire desert, with winds blowing so hard the local culture built sandsailors just for this occasion. As a whole the wind season is the more celebrated season of the two as the skimmer migration give much in food and riches while lowering fauna aggression as food is no longer as scarces. While the trade off may be increased sand storms the explosion of food and they wealth they bring is well worth it for the local population.

Wildlife log: skimmer

wildlife: skimmer: the supposed "life blood" of the sky blaze desert during wind season, these small size creature spend most of their life under the dunes. eating moss algae found in the underground cave network below the shifting sand and burrowing to sleep, weaving a cocoon to pupate for the upcoming wind season. during the wind season is their seasonal nuptial flight where they will start their great migration from desert to swamp to mate and reproduce with females flying back during the closure of the wind season to lay their eggs before dyeing. this make them great prey during their flight as both local predators and locals will catch these creatures by the hundreds. the locals their pale white shells cover in intricate light blue or more rarely iridescent markings make for a great decorative piece on furniture or jewelries as their meat and eggs are consider a fine delicacy for many.

[swede1952]

Can't see me.

I think this is a Great Blue Skimmer dragon fly (Libellula vibrans). I took this out at Alligator Lake yesterday. I have a better photograph, where you can see the whole insect, but I kind of like the way this looks.

"The great blue skimmer (Libellula vibrans) is a dragonfly of the skimmer family. With a total length of 50 to 63 mm, it is one of the largest skimmers. The immature forms of the skimmer are brown in color and mature forms are blue-hued. This species is found near lakes, ponds, and slow streams in the eastern United States[ and rarely in southern Ontario" - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_blue_skimmer

[dansnaturepictures]

05/06/2023-Lakeside and home 

Photos taken in this set are of: 1. Spiders in the hallway. 2. Cuckoo spit on some lavender that’s coming into flower in the front garden. 3. Beautiful blue cornflowers in the flower bed area on the way to Lakeside at lunch time. 4, 5, 8 and 10. Beautiful emerald views on another day of lush vegetation and endless bright blue sky. 6. A well grown Greylag Goose gosling at Lakeside. 7. A mesmerising and gigantic Emperor dragonfly, I was so thrilled to take a turn into a meadow area by the lakes and see it whizzing through the air. It’s size apparent as it heavily touched down and I enjoyed some glorious moments spellbound by it as it shone in the sunlight. Captivating moments with a wondrous species that it has been a joy to see these past few days. 9. Some fresh adorable Mallard ducklings which it was lovely to see, seeing some older ones well too. 

Dazzling dragonflies dominated my day as on the Lakeside walk I was over the moon to spot a target, two Black-tailed Skimmers beside beach and Kornwestheim lakes. It was a pleasure to enjoy this rather more dainty and delicate dragonfly of striking colours. I love seeing them here at this time of year so I was buzzing to see them. Beautiful Demoiselle, Common Blue Damselfly and exotic Blue-tailed Damselfly were nice to see too. Meadow Brown and Speckled Wood butterflies were good to see as was the terrapin and two sparkling Swollen-thighed beetles on a cornflower and oxeye daisy each at the flower bed were a joy to see on the way. Bird wise at a distance I was happy to get a glimpse of one of the Great Crested Grebe’s eggs underneath the bird on the Kornwestheim lake nest. Moorhen, Feral Pigeon seen well, a fair few Woodpigeons, Jackdaw, Carrion Crow seen well on a sign by beach lake, Magpie, Blackbird and possibly a young Great Spotted Woodpecker stood out too. Plantain, loads of yellow rattle, oxeye daisies, mini pink crane’s-bills possibly cut-leaved crane’s-bill shining like gems, bigger purpler meadow crane’s-bills, forget-me-not, green alkanet, speedwell, shiny thistle, loads of buttercups, red valerian and chamomile and roses including dog roses standing out at Lakeside and home were key flowers seen today. Young Starling including beside House Sparrow and Goldfinch were key birds seen at home today. A smashing vibrant wild day.