Monday, September 05, 2011

Tandem Meadowhawks


Here is a tandem pair of meadowhawk dragonflies.  I'm not exactly which sure which species we're looking at, but if I had to guess, I would guess Cherry-faced meadowhawk.  The male's face is awfully red. 

The meadowhawks do the egglaying together.  The male, in front, grasps onto the female's head with the end of his abdomen, and they literally fly in tandem.  Pretty neat trick, isn't it?  I'm not sure if the male makes all the decisions about where to go, or whether there is truly some type of communication between the two.

The female, in back, is just about ready to dip the end of her abdomen in the wet peat of the bog, depositing eggs with each tap.  The pair would hover for a few seconds, drop down to the bog, do some abdomen tapping, and then hover once more.

-Tom

3 comments:

  1. Wow! Great capture of an amazing moment!

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  2. Thank you Friend of HK- I've been enjoying your nature images from on the other side of the world.

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