Back, from wherever it is they go, are the Meadowhawks (Sympetrum corruptum).
POSTSCRIPT: They appeared a few weeks ago, scattered loners, the vanguard, cruising over lawns mid-day. In the mornings and evenings, they perched upon t-posts and tomato cages. And rocks too, for those concerned with authenticity.The swarms appeared yesterday, thirty, forty, sixty dragons stitching and cross-stitching the air above lawns, gardens and uh, meadows. Their wings don’t appear to move at all as they troll along, scanning with thousand-prismed orbs. Then with a flick of the wings and an impossible aerobatic flip, one snags a hoverfly and then continues along, hunting a new tack.
Hilariously, I tried to record all of this with a pocket-sized digital camera:
In a few months they’ll be gone, displaced some distance down wind or a few clicks by lat or long. Here, the migration is a piecemeal affair, if truly it occurs at all. On the coast, squadrons merge into massive air wings and cruise down the beach thousands at a time.
Where and why, we don’t really understand.
I saw this adult in late November, nearly smack dab in the middle of the Carboniferous. He may well have been planning to stick it out.
23 July 2007 at 11:41 am
Very nice! Dragonflies always make wonderful photo subjects (except when they won’t stay in one place, that is).
23 July 2007 at 7:36 pm
Thanks Brian. With a little patience, I find that I can approach Meadowhawks fairly easily when they are basking. Flame Skimmers and Common Whitetails are a very different story, unfortunately.