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page four
BIG GREEN: LIFE IN THE FAST LANE
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 The
adult life of a male Common Green Darner Anax junius
is a very busy life in the fast lane. Rich Stallcup calls him the "Lord
of June." He is constantly on the go, patrolling a large territory, searching
for females to catch and males to chase away. Indeed, except for the photos
at the bottom of this page and another similar situation, I have yet to
see one stop flying.
This is a very common and widespread species in North America and is
such a strong flyer that it has made it to England, Hawaii, east Asia,
and the South Pacific (Manolis 2003). So let's pretend we are a Big Green,
the Lord of June, and hover right behind him as he eyes the next adventure
(below). |
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. . . and when he does spot a female, he's off to the chase. If successful,
he'll grab her by the neck and, after an intimate moment, guide her to
a quiet pond for ovipositing (below) |
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| Rita took some nice video as the female aggressively probed the water
with her abdomen, searching for the 'good spots' in the submerged vegetation.
In this close-up, she is probing very deep.. |
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These shots were taken in Monterey County,
California, in July 2006. The flight shots were at the Carmel River mouth
on 19 July; the tandem pair was at the Salinas wastewater treatment ponds
on 23 July.
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Literature cited:
Manolis, T. 2003. Dragonflies and Damselflies of California.
Calif. Natural Hist. Guide 72. Univ. of Calif., Berkeley, CA.
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PHOTOS: All photos are © 2006 Don Roberson; all rights
reserved.
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