Variegated Meadohwawk

 The variegated meadowhawk is one of the few migratory dragonflies that we have here in Minnesota. Usually we see a few in the spring and a few in the fall as they are migrating through but last weekend I found hundreds on a beach at Upper Red Lake.

Like most meadowhawks the male and female are different colors. The males are predominantly red, like many of the other species of meadowhakws, however the female variegated meadowhawk is mostly silver and white which is an unusual color scheme for a meadowhawk. 

Each year these dragonflies participate in a one way migration. Mature dragonflies fly south, some as far as the Honduras. There they will mate and lay their eggs before they die. It is their offspring that will begin the trip back to the north some arriving in Minnesota as early as April and May. These pictures where taken in New Mexico last November.