Neon Skimmer

About the Neon Skimmer

The Neon Skimmer earns its name: mature males are a saturated, glowing red-orange from face to tail tip, with an amber wash at the wing bases that flashes in flight. Females are duller orange-brown with a pale stripe down the back.

Males patrol and defend small territories over quiet water, returning again and again to the same sunlit perch, wings drooped forward. Females dip eggs into the water in quick taps, often guarded by the hovering male. Like all skimmers they are sit-and-wait hunters, launching at passing insects.

The Neon Skimmer is a southwestern specialty that is common in Central Texas, especially around spring-fed pools and creeks in the Hill Country, flying from late spring through fall.