Years of tracking dragonflies have taught me, within fairly broad limits, when to expect certain signature species to show up, and looking back at my records, I was figuring that the Painted Skimmers should be putting in appearances right about now. So when I was trekking through my neighbor's meadow in search of Great Spangled Fritillary butterflies, another signature species of early summer—they're a bit late this year—I was not exactly surprised to spot the first of the  Painteds, exquisite odonates whose buoyant flight is very lepidopteran in style. The pattern and color of the wings are absolutely unmistakeable, and its habit of delicately landing on the spent flower heads of swaying grasses is another giveaway sign of its identity. Libellula semifasciata will be working the upland meadows for all of July into August, and I can't imagine a better natural companion.