Autumn Meadowhawk

Welcome to September - Autmumn Meadowhawk

Meadowhawks

One of the dragonflies that I typically see late in the year is the Autumn meadowhawk. These dragons are often still flying into November, as long as we do not get a hard frost, these pics where taken in October. According to the book Dragonflies of the North Woods, by Kurt Mead, autumn meadowhawks can survive, meaning fly and feed, at temps slightly below 50 degrees.
Unlike many of the other red meadowhawks, mature males are red in color while mature females are either red or gold and immature are usually gold, autumn meadowhawks are easily identified by the color of their legs. Other meadowhawks have black legs while the autumn meadowhawk has yellow legs, which is why they were formerly known as the yellow-legged meadowhawk.

I am not sure which type of meadowhawk are in the photo above, I know that they are not autumn meadowhawks because they have black legs. These dragons are in what is referred to as the wheel position. The male, who is red, holds the female behind the head with his claspers. Before entering into the a tandem position the male will transfer sperm from testes, which are located on the bottom of abdomen segment nine, to his hamulus, which is located on the bottom of segments 2 and 3. the female will then arch her abdomen up to his hamulus to accept the sperm. Afterwards she will lay the fertilized eggs in the water, often while he guards to make sure that she does not copulate with another male until after she finishes laying the eggs.

Meadowhawks

As summer fades and fall begins many of the large types of dragonfly disappear. Many of the clubtails, cruisers, emeralds and even many of the skimmers are gone by the end of August. So if you plan to go out looking for dragons in September and October you should plan on seeing mainly darners and meadowhawks, at least that is how it is in my neck of the woods.

Meadowhawks are smaller dragonflies, usually one to one and a half inches long, that can be found around open water or in open fields. There are numerous types of meadowhawks with several types looking so similar that it is hard to identify them unless you have them under a magnifying glass or microscope. In most cases the male meadowhawk is red with black triangles running across the side of the abdomen.

Females range in color from yellow to red to brown and are even more difficult to identify. The exceptions to the rules are the black meadowhawk, which the male is black and female yellow, the variegated meadowhawk, which the male is red and silver and the female is usually yellow and white, and the autumn meadowhawk, which can sometimes be seen into November and can be identified by its yellow legs. The males in these pictures are autumn meadowhawk and the female in the last picture could be one of several types.