Cardinal meadowhawks are small dragonflies (like their relatives, the common variegated meadowhawk) but their bright red color makes them very noticeable.   They can be confused with other red dragonflies like the flame skimmer, but are smaller and more intensely red than that species and have two easily-seen white spots on the thorax (they also lack the extensive red-orange tinge to the wing bases that is characteristic of flame skimmers).   I took the pictures with long telephoto lenses in early June at the fringes of a small lake in the San Jacinto Mountains of southern California.