Common Green Darner - Anax de juin
One of the largest, fastest, and most widely distributed of the dragonflies, the Green Darner is also one of the select few dragonfly species that migrates. It is, like the Monarch Butterfly, a generational migrant: eggs are laid on the way south, hatch and migrate further south, where eggs are laid for the return journey. Given the lengthy developmental phases of each stage, the cycle is lengthy and random. As one source suggests, the dragonfly in this image may be the grandchild of a dragonfly that headed south - not last fall, but some previous autumn.
They can fly almost 60 kms/hr, and in migration can cover over 120 kilometres a day. They are aggressively territorial and will eat other dragonflies that ignore that territorial marking; the legend is that some birders saw one try to take down a Ruby-throated Hummingbird.
This species takes its pauses lower than others, often at or near ground level. This particular dragonfly let me photograph it through the emerging wild grasses, which are its resting habitat. I secured some other images on a low branch, but I liked the effect of the grasses more.
That blue is something else when they are whizzing around you, hunting.
Common Green Darner - Anax de juin
One of the largest, fastest, and most widely distributed of the dragonflies, the Green Darner is also one of the select few dragonfly species that migrates. It is, like the Monarch Butterfly, a generational migrant: eggs are laid on the way south, hatch and migrate further south, where eggs are laid for the return journey. Given the lengthy developmental phases of each stage, the cycle is lengthy and random. As one source suggests, the dragonfly in this image may be the grandchild of a dragonfly that headed south - not last fall, but some previous autumn.
They can fly almost 60 kms/hr, and in migration can cover over 120 kilometres a day. They are aggressively territorial and will eat other dragonflies that ignore that territorial marking; the legend is that some birders saw one try to take down a Ruby-throated Hummingbird.
This species takes its pauses lower than others, often at or near ground level. This particular dragonfly let me photograph it through the emerging wild grasses, which are its resting habitat. I secured some other images on a low branch, but I liked the effect of the grasses more.
That blue is something else when they are whizzing around you, hunting.