Evening Skimmers at Santa Ana NWR, 10/27/10

With one last warm, humid morning before the cold front comes in, I decided to check out the Evening Skimmer party going on at Santa Ana NWR. A few years ago Evening Skimmer was considered a very rare bug north of Mexico. A couple of weeks ago Martin Reid discovered dozens of them in the brush north of the parking lot at Santa Ana. As I walked through the grass, three and four would flush at a time. It was neat to watch their erratic flight behavior. Often they would perch in the open but their coloration still made them hard to see.









I also kicked up a Bar-sided Darner. The anterior abdomen constriction and dark wing edging is diagnostic.





I also found a few Rainpool Spreadwings.