Dragonflies

If you dig animal migrations and you live in New Jersey, the first thing that comes to mind are species like Monarchs on their way to Mexico - Red Knots to Terre Del Fuego, South America - Snowy Owls in Canada to Island Beach State Park - Humpback Whales to Sandy Hook Bay, but who amongst us think dragonflies? Unsung migrators that pass through my beloved garden state on massive journeys south is a six-legged emerald gemstone, that, in the hand, is a picture of nature's perfection - the Green Darner (Anax junius) (translation: Lord of June). This species has a very diverse life history from being incredibly important as aquatic predacious aquatic larvae (naiads) of tadpoles and small fish, themselves being prey for larger fish and birds, to aerial predators as adults feeding on a variety of insects, to being prey themselves for birds, to being hosts to parasitic insects, and on and on within food webs. Some populations live short lives while others will migrate in "swarms". The one pictured in hand below I took during a moth survey along Newark Bay in the Port of Newark, NJ. These migrations, many hundreds of miles, can find them traveling from Maine to Mexico! I first noticed this years ago while watching one of my sons Lacrosse games where the entire field was awash with green darners picking off mosquitos and midges while stopping over during one of these epic peregrinations. Man, they're gorgeous living things!