Great Blue Skimmer dragonfly (female, oviposition, in flight)

Libellula vibrans

Description:

A Great Blue Skimmer dragonfly spotted along a small creek that flows under the "Hike-Bike Trail" at Huntley Meadows Park. This individual is a female; the four-image time series of photos shows the female laying eggs by the process of oviposition. Flanges beneath the female's eighth abdominal segment are used to scoop and hold a few drops of water; the dragonfly skims the water repeatedly, picking up drops of water that are used to flick fertilized eggs toward the shore, as shown in Photo 4. The process typically lasts a few seconds to a few minutes. I used a shutter speed of 1,300 second in order to capture still photos of the dragonfly in flight. The low light conditions really pushed the limitations of my camera -- thank goodness for RAW images and post-processing using Apple "Aperture"!