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Daily Bucket - Red Dragonflies in Mississippi [1]
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Date: 2025-06-06
The Daily Bucket is a nature refuge. We amicably discuss animals, weather, climate, soil, plants, waters and note life’s patterns. We invite you to note what you are seeing around you in your own part of the world, and to share your observations in the comments below. Each note is a record that we can refer to in the future as we try to understand the phenological patterns that are quietly unwinding around us. To have the Daily Bucket in your Activity Stream,visit Backyard Science’s profile page and click on follow.
This diary is about four species of red dragonflies that live in my area. There are more (as is the case with most insects) but I have documented the ones in this article for a few years now.
There are three size differences in the species I’ll highlight today. The Autumn Meadowhawk and Calico Pennant are what I call medium sized. That’s where I’ll start and get to the slim and hefty creatures later.
The title photo is an excellent mental image of a red dragonfly. Not too many frills (a few black markers on the tail) with only a hint of red in the wings (when the sun gleams just right). As usual, the female is a different color and does not seem to belong with such a plain fellow (even if she lacks excessive adornment).
Autumn Meadowhawk female
There is a contrasting slim version of the Autumn Meadowhawk. Shown below are the bright shades of a male Needham’s Skimmer. There is a racing stripe down the middle of the tail and much darker wings that shimmer a crimson glow in the sun.
Needham’s Skimmer male
I didn’t have a still photograph of a female Needham’s to post. What I do have is a film of a female laying eggs. This short 21 second video is in slow motion with the audio muted. A closer look will reveal the white eggs drifting to the bottom of the shallow pond after she deposits them.
Her yellow body, black racing stripe and red eyes are quite striking (in my opinion).
Calico Pennants are bit more flashy but the male and female don’t look like mates (except for wing markings). The larger lower wing veins (red on the male and brownish on the female) can be confused with other species of dragonfly ( Red or Carolina Saddlebag specifically).
Calico Pennant male
Calico Pennant female
That brings me to the hefty fliers in my area. To clarify sizes, think pinky finger for slim, index finger for medium and thumb for hefty.
I live in the overlap region containing both Red and Carolina Saddlebag Skimmers. These quick dragons seldom land so filming them during flight has been a challenge. Here is my best attempt at a male in flight. Markings to note are black legs, large red panel on aft wing set and no extra wing markings like Calico Pennants.
The female is a slightly lighter shade of red (unlike the yellow colors of others I have shown). The small clear spots (within the red wings) are indicators of this species and seen on both male and female Carolina Saddlebags.
The 19 second video below shows the male and female connected, hovering and dispersing eggs. The ripples of the water below (slow motion and audio off) are eggs striking the surface. I didn’t see the female tap her tail in the pool during the time I watched the pair. I haven’t seen data that indicates this a typical method to disperse eggs for Saddlebags. I have found information where the male will release the female, she will dip her tail to release eggs while he hovers (guarding from above), then reattaching his tail forceps when they move to another site.
A got a wonderful surprise and I increased my life list by finding a Double-ringed Pennant — Celithemis verna. Here is the female I found. I’ll be on the lookout for a male.
This is all I have for today and hope we get some lively discussions on your observations.
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