Autumn Meadowhawk

It's frequently easy to identify Autumn Meadowhawks; they're the bright red dragonflies I see well into autumn. Even the females turn at least orange, sometimes red (assuming they live long enough). But they don't start their adulthood that color. They start like this, mostly light brown with a little green on the underside of the head and thorax.

I suspect this is a male; it sounds like we'd be able to see something called a "subgenital plate" hanging down near the end of the abdomen if this was an immature female.

While it's not unusual to see these dragonflies in early August, they really come into their own a month or two later when they're more likely to be flashing their red color, and when other dragonflies are scarce.

August 3, 2021 at Washington Valley Park
Photo 149026626, (c) jpviolette, some rights reserved (CC BY-NC)


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