Dragonflies

Swamp Darners are impressive insects—large, broad-headed, brown/maroon abdomens ringed with thin, green lines. They range over eastern North America, more-or-less from Maine through Michigan to East Texas. They are one of approximately 15 species of dragonflies (out of about 400) that migrate, and they move down the Atlantic Coast in large numbers, sometimes as far as Mexico and the Bahamas. But they are very rare in Wisconsin; rare enough to be labeled a species of Special Concern.

The Variegated Meadowhawk has a medium size body, patterned abdomen, tinted veins on the leading edge of all four wings, stigmas (pigment dots at the wing tips) that shade from pale to dark to pale, and yellow spots on the sides of the thorax. Adult meadowhawks may be found hunting away from water or hanging around the lake shores and ponds where they will lay their eggs in late summer.

Mosaic darners are a group that includes about 20 darners in North America—darners whose abdomens are decorated with “a mosaic” of blue/green/gray lines and speckles. The size, shape and color of the stripes on the thorax are important field marks. Sexual dimorphism runs rampant, with females of some species having as many as three different color phases (blue, green and yellow)—all of them distinct from the coloring of the males.

It’s been a remarkable year for dragonflies in southeastern Wisconsin. They made the print and television news in early August, when green darners, appearing in huge swarms, were hailed as saviors from the flood plain mosquitoes that had just emerged in cosmic numbers. These impressive sights only happen when the ecological “planets” are aligned just right, and they may not recur for years.

Today we take to the air with three big dragonflies that belong to a group called the King Skimmers; 12-Spotted Skimmer, Common Whitetail, and Widow Skimmer. Represented by 103 species in North America, the Skimmer family (Libellulidae) contains our most common and conspicuous dragonflies.

Pennants are smallish dragonflies and there are just eight species in the genus. Most members of the genus are more eastern, but the ranges of the Calico and the Halloween take them southwest into the Great Plains. They are found near/lay their eggs in slow-moving to still waters. Several sources said that the young/naiads of these Pennants are not very competitive, and as such they are more successful in newer waters (burrow pits, ditches, etc). The naiads are great vegetation climbers and not-so-great swimmers.

The Dot-tailed Whiteface Dragonfly is a member of the Skimmer family, Libellulidae. There are over a thousand species in this brightly-colored family gracing the skies worldwide. A tenth of those are native to North America, making Skimmers the largest American dragonfly family. DtWfs enjoy most kinds of quiet waters—bogs, marshes, swamps, sloughs, farm ponds, and even very slow streams—s long as there are low aquatic plants to perch on.