Great blue skimmer dragonflies at Magnolia Plantation and Gardens (Charleston, S.C.)

Towards the end of June, we visited Myrtle Beach, having flown into Charleston. We planned it this way since we felt like we really wanted to see more of Charleston and flights into Myrtle were so expensive anyway. One of our Charleston stops was a return visit to Magnolia Plantation and Gardens, we had really wanted to do the boat tour but it was closed last year on the day we visited. 

One of the amazing things about visiting Magnolia is the number of dragonflies to be found. This is going to be a two-part post since I took hundreds of photos at this site. Today's post focuses on the Great blue skimmer dragonflies spotted.

 I had never seen a dragonfly eat before so watching this was fascinating. I learned after I returned home and did some research that larger dragonflies, such as the great blue skimmer, will eat smaller dragonflies. Here he feasts on a red dragonfly which I have yet to identify. Who knew?

This great blue skimmer is doing a handstand.  

Cropped a bit from the original photo, the bokeh was not intentional but I liked how it came out.

Another view of the same dragonfly. Again, unintentional bokeh, but I liked it!