It was a little late.

The first flameskimmer of the year usually arrives in our yard in early April.

Not this year. The species, Libellula saturata, was late.

The easily recognized red dragonfly, also known as "the firecracker skimmer," touched down in our yard today, May 24.

She perched on a bamboo stick in our pollinator garden, close to a fish pond, and eyed her surroundings.

It's amazing to watch them grab a flying insect and return to the perch to devour it.

Dragonflies belong to the order Odonata, which means "toothed one" in Greek. 

Danish zoologist Johan Christian Fabricius, a student of Carl Linnaeus, coined the term Odonata in 1793. He is considered one of the greatest entomologists of the 18th century, according to Wikipedia. He named nearly 10,000 species of animals.