Backyard and Beyond

Starting out from Brooklyn, an amateur naturalist explores our world.

As John Burroughs said, “The place to observe nature is where you are.”

Great Blue Skimmer

For your August weekend, Libellula virbrans, spotted today in Brooklyn Bridge Park. A male. At 2.2 inches, this is one of our larger dragonflies, and it’s a great percher: this one returned to the same cattail leaf half-a-dozen times as I watched and photographed. More common in the southeastern swamps, but reaching up to Mass. on the range maps.

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