Green Skimmer

Description:

Libellulidae; Orthetrum serapia; Watson, 1984. Wikipedia explains "Orthetrum serapia, the green skimmer, is a freshwater dragonfly in the family Libellulidae. The serapia species is present in Australia, the Philippines, Fiji, Papua New Guinea and Solomon Islands. It inhabits a wide range of still and sluggish waters, often shallow." This last sentence about its preferred habitat matches exactly with our local area. Here, when the rice fields are under water for 3 to 4 months, these Green Skimmers can be seen flying around every day. Conversely, when the fields dry up at the end of the rains, they pretty much disappear. Wikipedia displays pictures of male and female specimens, above the classification table. The dragonfly in my pictures matches Wiki's male specimen.

Habitat:

This Green Skimmer was spotted in our backyard this morning at approx. 7:45 am.

Notes:

The fence, that the dragonfly was sitting on, makes for a rather unnatural looking picture. It is a netting-fence that can be quickly thrown up or taken down as required. Its purpose is to keep free range chickens out of our vegetable plot, especially when there are newly planted seeds or very young seedlings.