Wednesday bug blogging

This is a swift setwing. These are medium sized dragons that let me get pretty close. So I take pictures of them a lot.



Here is an immature male roseate skimmer. As he gets older he will turn rosy purple...



...if he is not eaten by a robber fly like this one. Robber flies are even more predatory than dragonflies, and often catch and eat bugs, including dragons, larger than themselves. This robber is about an inch long.



Widow skimmers are common but hard to approach with a camera. I was happy to get this photo of a female.



This red saddlebags landed on a stick in my yard.


(click photos for larger view)