Saffron-winged Meadowhawk Images

Saffron-winged Meadowhawk Images, Facts and Information:

Sympetrum costiferum

• Saffron-winged Meadowhawks are medium-sized dragonflies with slender bodies, clear wings tinged with amber near the base, and bright red abdomens in mature males. Females and immature males are yellowish to brown with similar wing coloration. Adults measure about 1.3 to 1.5 inches in length.
• Saffron-winged Meadowhawk dragonflies are found across much of the eastern, central, and northern United States and southern Canada. They inhabit ponds, marshes, lakesides, and slow-moving streams with nearby open meadows. Adults are often seen perching on grasses, sedges, or small twigs near the water’s edge.
• Saffron-winged Meadowhawks are predators that feed on small flying insects such as mosquitoes, midges, gnats, and other soft-bodied prey captured in flight.
• Females lay eggs by dipping their abdomens into shallow water or onto aquatic vegetation, often accompanied by males in tandem. The eggs hatch into aquatic larvae, or naiads, which develop underwater before emerging as adults in late summer.
• Saffron-winged Meadowhawk dragonflies are one of the later-flying species of meadowhawks, often seen from late summer into early autumn.
• A group of dragonflies is called a “swarm.”

I hope you enjoy viewing my Saffron-winged Meadowhawk dragonfly photos.