Four-spotted Skimmer

We have begun finding dragonflies in Olympia. These two critters are both Four-spotted Skimmers. The first is from a barrow pit near the house on 13 May. The second is from Nisqually National Wildlife Refuge on 7 May (both 2019). Four-spotted Skimmers are old friends from Minnesota. We often saw them in Erika’s garden and elsewhere around Northfield. In fact, For-spotted Skimmers range across Alaska, Canada, and the northern United States—also across Eurasia (where they are called Four-spotted Chasers) from Great Britain to Japan. Curiously this dragonfly is migratory in the Old World, but apparently not in the Americas (Paulson 2009).

I added this species to our Olympia yard list on 15 May. I was surprised to find it perched on the ground—actually on a small twig. A quick review of the literature indicates that Four-spotted Skimmers do perch on the ground more often than their close relatives. Their brown bodies and relatively unpatterned wings make for great camouflage.