Late in the summer, after many of the clubtail and skimmers are gone, we begin to see meadowhawks. There are numerous different types of meadowhawks and many are difficult to identify unless you have them under a microscope, such as cherry-faced and ruby meadowhawks, but one that stands out from the others is the variegated meadowhawk.
Like green darners the variegated meadowhawks migrate in the spring and the fall. In the spring the emergent adults head north where they will find a mate lay eggs and then die. That is why they are often one of the first dragonflies spotted in the springtime, along with green darners. In late summer the offspring will emerge from their watering homes and begin the trek southward to a warmer climate.
The black saddlebag dragonfly is a member of the skimmer dragons that is named for the large wing patches on the hindwing that somewhat resemble saddlebags. Black saddlebags are not that common around here so when I find one I often follow it for a long time to get a photo. I saw one last Thursday at Wood Lake Nature Center flying around with a large group of migrating green darner but unfortunately I lost it because of all of the other dragons flying about. This one I photographed last September near the Old Cedar Ave Bridge. It would appear to be a female, females and young males have a yellow colored face where mature males have a dark face. Since this was pretty late in the season it is probably more likely a female.
