A pair of eight-spotted skimmers have been hunting at our brushpile over the past week. Skimmers are a family of dragonflies and the eight-spotted species is native to western North America, from the High Plains to the Pacific Coast.
Like other dragonflies, eight-spotted skimmers are voracious killers, feasting on a wide variety of flying insects, including mosquitoes, flies, beetles, moths and butterflies. They generally hunt from a perch, attacking prey as they pass overhead. Nymphs, called naiads, crawl from ponds in late May or early June and molt to the adult form; the latter are active from June through mid August. After mating in flight, the female releases her eggs into a pond, attaching them to submerged vegetation; once hatched, the nymphs, as voracious as their parents, feast on insect larvae, tadpoles and small fish.
Eight-spotted skimmers, like all dragonflies, play an important role in the control of harmful insect populations (especially mosquitoes). While they may provoke fear in children and hysterical adults, these assassins pose no danger to humans and should be welcomed at our gardens, brushpiles and ponds.
