Black Meadowhawk

On Monday, Scott King alerted us that Black Meadowhawks were flying at Lake Byllesby Regional Park in Dakota County. Erika and I met Scott at the park. "This meadowhawk is a northern species," explained Scott, "and is only rarely found this far south." He guessed that these dragonflies already bred further north and were pushed south by drought and October winds. Lake Byllesby provides the spring-fed ponds this species prefers, but, as you can see in the lower photo, not necessarily a safe haven. We witnessed a Leopard Frog leap into the air and narrowly miss a passing Black Meadowhawk.

The first of these photos shows a male Black Meadowhawk, the second a female. This species normally ranges from Alaska to eastern Canada. It drops south through the Rocky Mountains and also into northern Minnesota, Wisconsin and New England.  It is also found all across northern Eurasia (Paulson 2011). Mead (2003) cautions that, although large migrations of Black Meadowhawk have occurred off the coast of Ireland, such movements are unreported from North America.