Variegated Meadowhawk

Last Sunday at the Valley Grove Prairie in nearby Rice County, Minnesota, the air was full of dragonflies—mostly Common Green Darners, but also Variegated Meadowhawks like this one. I was struck by its beauty and that it looked different from others I have seen—the blue thoracic stripe seemed unique.

I was confident of my identification (for once), because of the blue-gray “portholes” along the sides of the abdomen. Scott King assures me that this stripe is the mark of a young male, and that the blue will fade, leaving only the yellow spot at the bottom of the stripe. In April 2012, I posted a photograph of an adult male and in September 2011 I explained why one tends to see immature Variegated Meadowhawks in the fall, but adults in the spring.