Thanks to a tip from fellow odonate enthusiast Michael Ready, I was able to add another species of dragonfly to my life list recently: Yellow-sided Skimmer dragonfly (Libellula flavida).
Female
The first Yellow-sided Skimmer dragonfly that I spotted was perched along the shoreline of a small pond at an undisclosed location in Prince William County, Virginia USA. This individual is a female, as indicated by her terminal appendages.
Female Yellow-sided Skimmers have a pair of flanges beneath their eighth abdominal segment that are used to scoop and hold a few drops of water when laying eggs (oviposition), hence the family name “Skimmer.” Remember that all dragonflies and damselflies have a 10-segmented abdomen, numbered from front to back.
17 JUN 2021 | PNC. Wm. County | Yellow-sided Skimmer (female)
I followed the female from one perch to another, “working the shot.” The next two photos are full-frame (4,000 x 3,000 pixels), that is, uncropped.
17 JUN 2021 | PNC. Wm. County | Yellow-sided Skimmer (female)
Notice the amber color near the leading edge of her wings, a good field mark for L. flavida.
17 JUN 2021 | PNC. Wm. County | Yellow-sided Skimmer (female)
Male
According to Dr. Steve Roble’s excellent datasets for the Commonwealth of Virginia, the adult flight period for Yellow-sided Skimmer is from May 15 to September 21.
By mid-June most males, including this one, are completely covered by light-blue pruinescence that obscures the yellow coloration on the sides of their thorax. Look closely at the full-size version of the following photo and you should see the amber color near the leading edge of his wings.
17 JUN 2021 | PNC. Wm. County | Yellow-sided Skimmer (male)
Habitat
A small, seep-fed pond located in the forest provides ideal habitat for Yellow-sided Skimmer.
Habitat: Boggy ponds, seeps, slow streams, and weedy ditches. Source Credit: Paulson, Dennis (2011-12-19). Dragonflies and Damselflies of the East (Princeton Field Guides) (Kindle Location 9094). Princeton University Press. Kindle Edition.
23 MAY 2018 | PNC. Wm. County | small, seep-fed pond
Notice the fallen tree that lies between the foreground and the pond in the background, nearly perpendicular to the stream. The tree is a barrier that slows the flow of the stream, creating the type of boggy, weedy habitat that Yellow-sided Skimmer prefers.
Range maps
Not all species of Skimmers are as common as I tend to think. For example, the following map shows all official records for Libellula flavida in the United States of America. As you can see, Yellow-sided Skimmer is a relatively uncommon species of odonate.
Zooming in to reveal the details shows few records reported for Northern Virginia, where I live.
What are the take-aways?
Many species of dragonflies in the Family Libellulidae (Skimmers) are habitat generalists and relatively easy to find almost anywhere there is water. In contrast, I think it’s fair to say Yellow-sided Skimmer is a habitat specialist that is challenging to find.
Related Resource: Libellula flavida Yellow-sided Skimmer on NatureServe Explorer. The conservation status for L. flavida in Virginia is “Vulnerable (S3).”
Copyright © 2021 Walter Sanford. All rights reserved.
Tags: Family Libellulidae (Skimmers), female, habitat specialist, Libellula flavida, male, odonate habitat, pruinescence, terminal appendages, Yellow-sided Skimmer dragonfly
walter sanford's photoblog 
June 26, 2021 at 9:28 am |
[…] take on our encounter with the Yellow-sided Skimmers, check out his blog posting entitled Yellow-sided Skimmer (female, male). Walter included photos of both genders of this species along with additional information about its […]
June 30, 2021 at 10:29 am |
Excellent post and terrific photographs!
Alas, I’ll have to travel out of state to locate one.