Variegated Meadowhawk - Sympetrum corruptum

Patti and I joined a dragonfly outing led by Tim Manolis on July 12th at Bear Creek, which is along route 20, east of Williams. It's usually hot there in the summer, and even this dry year produced an abundance of dragonflies. By far the most common species was the Variegated Meadowhawk, a rather easy species to observe as it frequently chooses an open perch and tends to ignore the approach of humans. Contrast that with the Giant Darner, a green darner with the distinction of being the largest dragonfly in North America. Our group got to see several Giant Darners, but they patrol along the creek tirelessly and never seem to land. This digiscoped shot shows the distinctive thorax marking, with pale blue stripes ending in a yellow dot. Lack of red color on the abdomen suggests it is either a young male or a female.

The mature male Variegated Meadowhawks, with red on their abdomens, were present in good numbers and showed a lot more red on the abdomen. Here's an example taken at Ellis Creek a few years ago.

Last shot (below) is another one lacking red on the abdomen. Perhaps an experienced ode lover could better determine the age and sex, as the terminal appendages are seen more clearly here. See taxonomy below.

Taxonomy-

Family: Libellulidae, the Skimmers. Big family, worldwide.

Genus: Sympetrum, the Meadowhawks. 15 species in the U.S., 10 of them found in California (T. Manolis, Dragonflies and Dragonflies of California, a must-have reference for California odonata).

Species: Sympetrum corruptum, the Variegated Meadowhawk. A widely distributed and common migratory meadowhawk, found from southern Canada and to points south, and across to Asia.

Migration in dragonflies is a fascinating and a relatively new area of study, where we can all contribute valuable observations. See: http://blog.nature.org/science/2013/09/16/dragonfly-migration-a-mystery-citizen-scientists-can-help-solve/