Two brilliant red skimmers are found in the Houston area, Flame Skimmer and Neon Skimmer, but this one is a little brighter (hence the name) and shows brown (instead of brick red) sides of the thorax. These are actually fairly large dragonflies; the smaller red species are a darker red, for the most part.

The female is a plain yellowish tan, almost glowing gold when she's laying eggs.

I've moved this image to the Guide for the species, _Libellula croceipennis_.