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My husband and I were killing some time yesterday late afternoon and stopped at a nearby birding hot spot. As you can probably tell I never just bird. Any way I spotted what I thought might be a Tiger Beetle it flew but then this one caught my eye. It did not fly but it did not hold still either and unlike most of the tiger beetles I encounter it moved into cover. I got these not great photos. I do not have a book for iding Tiger Beetles as I'm not willing to spend $80.00 for one. I looked around online a bit without finding a match. I'm not even sure this is a Tiger Beetle. Does any one here have an idea what it might be? Taken in NE Florida.

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2 hours ago, Jerry Friedman said:

So are they Flame Skimmers or Neon Skimmers?

Oh, those? I haven’t been able to photograph them. They never land!! Ever! ?

But even though I haven’t been able to photograph them, I’m almost certain that they’re Flame Skimmers, not Neon.

 

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6 hours ago, Seanbirds said:

Oh, those? I haven’t been able to photograph them. They never land!! Ever! ?

But even though I haven’t been able to photograph them, I’m almost certain that they’re Flame Skimmers, not Neon.

 

Hm.  Around here, Flame Skimmers perch a lot.  You're almost making me wonder whether they're Red Saddlebags, though they don't fit the description you gave before.

Not to waste any of your time, but it is possible for a patient person to get an identifiable picture of a dragonfly in flight if it's patrolling in a fairly small area.  Set the zoom so the dragonfly will be small in the picture.  Either put your camera in burst mode, or take video.  Whichever you do, try to follow the motion of the dragonfly.  The idea is that by coincidence, the camera might be moving with the same velocity vector as the dragonfly in one picture.  Then just look through a few hundred pictures, or step through the video frame by frame and take a screen shot if you find a good one.  (Sorry about the King Crimson link.  I couldn't help it.)

Edited by Jerry Friedman
clarify
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Odes from today, tightly cropped the way Odonata Central likes them:

Male Springwater Dancer.  There were 5,271,009 individuals present.  Two females landed on my hand, but I didn't manage to photograph them.  This one I encouraged to get onto my hand (but his wing was already bent--I'm not responsible).  And yes, he had mites--most of the individuals of this species I photographed did.

mspringwaterhand50crop.jpg

 

Red Rock Skimmer.  This is the only place in the county where they're recorded from.redrockskimmer55crop.jpg

 

Male Pale Snaketail with sphecid wasp prey.

palesnaketail83crop.jpg

 

Female American Rubyspot.rubyspot77crop.jpg

 

Male Sooty Dancer.

sootydancer07crop.jpg

Edited by Jerry Friedman
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20 hours ago, Connor Cochrane said:

Do butterflys count?

Of course, butterflies count! I even have a life list of them. They are the only other life list I keep though I have thought about starting one herps and Tiger Beetles.

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I'm going to get in on the fun here starting with some butterflies that I could use some help with IDs on.

skipper? (Seattle)

124072693-f4127f80-d9f5-11eb-9dad-ca5535

skipper? (Nebraska)

124072747-0a204000-d9f6-11eb-9594-b27ce9

? (Seattle)

124072879-3a67de80-d9f6-11eb-997c-d0d3e5

Indra Swallowtail? (Iowa)

124073523-e4476b00-d9f6-11eb-9bc8-4f5800

sulphur? (Michigan)

124073604-09d47480-d9f7-11eb-82c5-640d70

Anna's Blue? (Washington)

124073655-22dd2580-d9f7-11eb-9273-b27195

fritillary? (Wyoming)

124073699-39837c80-d9f7-11eb-9186-7d6ce0

wood-nymph? (Michigan)

124073752-51f39700-d9f7-11eb-97e1-223f1c

wood-nymph? (Wyoming)

124072820-27eda500-d9f6-11eb-87a6-844189

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