Reddish Dragonfly - Sympetrum corruptum

Moved

… William Edwards, 10 January, 2013 - 7:43am

Yes, Variegated Meadowhawk

Sympetrum corruptum. Pretty distinctive species (and common in many areas).

Meadowhawks have a kind of gestalt appearance which I'm not sure how to describe, although they're in the same family as "skimmers." After a while you'll learn to recognize them. Among the meadowhawks, in the US, only S. corruptum has this kind of patterning on the abdomen. The Red Rock Skimmer has a different abdomen pattern (more black, no gray or brown) and a redder face, although you can't really see the face in this photo.

You're right that many meadowhawks (and other dragonflies) are not readily identifiable by color patterns, though. The more involved keys often depend on morphological characteristics and wing venation.

… Melissa Barton, 7 January, 2013 - 1:46pm

Thanks!

I have a lot more to learn. It's been really fun taking pictures of bugs and attempting (often times, poorly) to identify them.

… BugShots, 7 January, 2013 - 3:08pm

I've been dragonflying since

I've been dragonflying since 2010 and I'm still hopeless at many groups (especially damselflies and darners). If you're seriously interested in dragonflies in particular, I'd suggest a field guide. The pocket Stokes guide is not bad for casual interest. I'm not very familiar with the guides for your area, though.

… Melissa Barton, 7 January, 2013 - 3:41pm

My guess on an ID

Looked more into this comparing pictures, reading descriptions, etc. Is this a Variegated Meadowhawk or a Red-Rock Skimmer? I am not really sure how to identify these, as it seems you can't really do it based on colors/patterns too easily. At least not for non-experienced people like me.

… BugShots, 6 January, 2013 - 12:38am