Golden-winged Skimmers and Needham's skimmers are very similar in coloring and quite the treat to see, especially in sunshine.
page 8 of 10

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A male golden-winged skimmer.
[Dragonfly appears to be an orange color with orange appendages. Its wings have a definite orange/gold colored section along the top. The sunlight glints off sections of the wings.]

This golden-winged was a flyer even though more than half a wing is missing.
[Dragonfly appears to be an orange color with orange appendages. Its legs are wrapped around a stalk of weed with its back to the camera. The lower right wing is missing the outer two-thirds of it.]

A female golden-winged skimmer.
[This dragonfly has yellow/gold coloring in the places where the prior one was orange. There is a dark stripe down the length of the back.]

I believe this is also a female golden-winged Skimmer.
[Side view of the dragonfly as it holds the tip of a bare branch. Its thorax is the same tan as its body.]

Probably a female Needham's skimmer
[A side view of a dragonfly holding the top of a brown stem while facing left. Its thorax is yellow and brown and there is a black stripe down the top of its back. Its sides are yellow. Its nose is white. Its eyes are blue-grey. The tips of its wings are black and the pterostigma are bright yellow. ]

A male Needham's Skimmer.
Its body and face are more brown than a Golden-winged Skimmer.
[A top back view of the dragonfly. Its head is dark brown. Its body is orange brown and the colored stripes in its winge are tan-brown.]

The light caught this Needham's Skimmer's body in just the right way to as make it appear its body was glowing.
[The underside view of a dragonfly on a white branch. The dragonfly is holding itself just to one side of the branch so only a part of its face and thorax are blocked. The sunlight makes the body side color a glowing yellow.]

This female Needham's Skimmer has dark tips on the wings.
[Front view of a dragonfly looking at the camera as it held the top of a twig. The light yellow color along the tops of the wings leads to the blackish-brown segments at the tips of the wings. There is a thick dark stripe on the underside of the body.]

In this view, it appears the pterostigma on the upper edges of the wing are dark, but it's probably just the lighting.
[Side back view of the dragonfly as it holds the middle of the stem of a weed. The light yellow veins at the top of the wings leads to what appears to be red-brown pterostigma.]

Continue to page 9 of 10 to see dragonflies with spotted wings.

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All photos © S. M. Garver