Autumn Meadowhawk

Here's another Autumn Meadowhawk, but unlike the non-red female a recent post or the immature male from an earlier post, this fella has the bright red color of a mature male.

We're supposed to look for yellowish tan legs to help distinguish these dragonflies from other meadowhawks (most of which are also red), though most of the other meadowhawks are declining in numbers in October and it would be a bit of a surprise to see them a week and a half into November. Though I can't claim that Autumn Meadowhawks were everywhere last November, if you found one of their favored locales you could probably count on seeing them there pretty regularly for a couple weeks.

The fella in the picture is doing one of his favorite things: basking on a rock in the sun for warmth while watching the air for a possible insect meal to come by. I'm sure that basking is more important for this species just because it's active during colder months than most other dragonflies.

November 11, 2021 at Duke Farms
Photo 169044113, (c) jpviolette, some rights reserved (CC BY-NC)


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