1st Great Blue Skimmer, home

The overall color pattern of this dragonfly—the two-toned abdomen and the black marks on the wing tips—usually is a sign of a Slaty Skimmer, which is one of our commonest odes in the neighborhood. Every time I trek down to the millpond waterfall area, I'm awash in Slaties, which are also not shy about making the half-mile flight from the pond to my home, where they'll perch on just about anything, including me, to watch for passing prey and amenable mate possibilities. Despite their abundance, however, I pay close attention to each one and look carefully for other field marks, particularly the presence of a white face, that would signal the arrival of something different and quite rare... something like this. What we have here is called a Great Blue Skimmer, and while these are one of the most abundant odes in the Southeast, they tend to stay in that region, except for the boldest of Great Blues, imbued with a traveling gene, fair winds, and an inordinate amount of good luck. I hope our new arrival wasn't traveling alone.