{"id":47598,"date":"2017-07-06T06:19:25","date_gmt":"2017-07-06T12:19:25","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/?p=47598"},"modified":"2026-03-18T05:03:33","modified_gmt":"2026-03-18T10:03:33","slug":"eight-spotted-skimmer-variegated-meadowhawk","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2017\/07\/06\/eight-spotted-skimmer-variegated-meadowhawk\/","title":{"rendered":"Eight-spotted Skimmer & Variegated Meadowhawk"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"VariegatedVariegated Meadowhawk on a rusty wire – Nikon D500, f8, 1\/640, ISO 320, Nikkor 500mm VR, natural light
\n<\/span><\/p>\n

While I photographed the juvenile Red-tailed Hawk<\/span><\/a> whose photos I shared yesterday I also photographed a few other “things with wings” but without feathers. I love dragonflies and whenever I can take images of them I do. This Variegated Meadowhawk (Sympetrum corruptum<\/span><\/em>) looked like it had lilac colored eyes in the field but when I got home I think they just looked kind of purpley in contrast to the rusty cable the meadowhawk was perched on.<\/p>\n

\"Eight-spottedEight-spotted Skimmer on a rusty wire – Nikon D500, f8, 1\/500, ISO 320, Nikkor 500mm VR with 1.4x TC, natural light<\/span><\/p>\n

And there were also tons of Eight-spotted Skimmers (Libellula forensis<\/span><\/em>) flying around. There are freshwater springs in the area with plenty of mosquitoes and that seemed to attract the dragonflies. If they want to eat all of the mosquitoes around I sure won’t stand in their way, I will applaud them!<\/p>\n

I enjoyed photographing the Eight-spotted Skimmer and Variegated Meadowhawk in between taking photos of the cooperative yet clumsy Red-tailed Hawk juvenile.<\/p>\n

Life is<\/em> good.<\/p>\n

Mia<\/p>\n

Click here<\/span><\/a> to see more of my insect and spider images.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I enjoyed photographing the Eight-spotted Skimmer and Variegated Meadowhawk while also taking photos of Red-tailed Hawk juvenile. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":104389,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1148,1797,5363,26,5952],"tags":[4004,4098,5366,2204,5364,4070,10542,13078,1799,5365,2558,5668,7474,2315,5954,5953,2765],"class_list":["post-47598","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-box-elder-county-utah","category-dragonflies","category-eight-spotted-skimmers","category-utah","category-variegated-meadowhawk","tag-adult","tag-desert","tag-dragonflies","tag-dragonfly","tag-eight-spotted-skimmer","tag-female","tag-freshwater-seep","tag-freshwater-spring","tag-insects","tag-libellula-forensis","tag-odonata","tag-rusty","tag-seep","tag-summer-3","tag-sympetrum-corruptum","tag-variegated-meadowhawk","tag-wire"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/07\/eight-spotted-skimmer-dragonfly-on-wire-mia-mcpherson-8705.jpg","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p11Mom-cnI","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":71991,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2020\/07\/17\/twelve-spotted-skimmer-dragonfly-other-things-with-wings\/","url_meta":{"origin":47598,"position":0},"title":"Twelve-spotted 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