Being a bird fanatic, spring is always an exciting time of year. You get a huge volume of birds moving through the area. Once the migrants move off to their Northern breeding grounds, you are left with just the normal breeding birds in your area. The birding also slows down as thick summer foliage makes the birds harder to observe. That can be a bit of a let-down.
Fortunately, the natural world always has something great in store. The insect world bursts to life in the summer. Damselflies and dragonflies might not have the great public relations of the butterflies, but they are just as spectacular. The twelve-spotted skimmer is a common dragonfly, but is visually striking. It is one of the easier dragonflies to identify. Females, like the one in this painting, lack the strong white wing markings of the males.
Leave a Reply