The airways over Painted Turtle Pond at Occoquan Bay National Wildlife Refuge were crowded on 11 November as Autumn Meadowhawk dragonfly couples in tandem competed to deposit eggs in one small area of presumably prime real estate. The Autumn Meadowhawk dragonflies (Sympetrum vicinum) were taking advantage of the sunny, warmish autumn day to do their part in ensuring the perpetuation of their species. Temperatures are forecast to drop much lower this weekend and the number of remaining dragonflies is likely to diminish as well as we move deeper into autumn.
When they mate, male dragonflies grasp females by the back of their heads using the claspers on their terminal appendages and form a shape that more or less looks like a heart. When mating is over, the males of some species release the females so they can deposit her eggs into the water or into vegetation. In many cases, like this one, the males continue to hold onto the females and remain attached to them (in a position known as “tandem”) as they fly together to the water and release the eggs. In the lower right corner of the first photo, you can see how the male dragonfly hovers and bends his abdomen so the the female is in an almost vertical position. There seems to be a lot of creative choreography involved in the whole process that I have tried to describe in words.
In terms of the photos, it was a real challenge to get shots of these little dragonflies in action that are less than an inch and a half in length (26-35 mm). When searching for a spot to deposit the eggs, the Autumn Meadowhawks may hover a little and then dip low without any warning. I resorted to using manual focusing and tried to keep my focus on the areas where the dragonflies seemed to be hovering. As you may notice, there is a distinctive reddish-colored piece of vegetation in the upper right quadrant of each of the photos, all of which were taken with the zoom lens extended to 400mm.
My apologies if I have gotten a bit carried away with trying to describe what I was seeing and doing. Suffice it to say that I was feeling a little giddy about having such a good opportunity to photograph these beautiful little aerial acrobats as the end of this year’s dragonfly season draws near.
© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.
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