Animal field guide
Variegated Meadowhawk
Sympetrum corruptum
Most meadowhawks live and die near the pond they emerged from. The Variegated Meadowhawk treats a continent as one habitat, riding fronts south in autumn and returning north to breed, so a drying marsh is a reason to leave rather than a reason to fail.
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Get AnimalDexVariegated Meadowhawk at a glance
Animal · Native range keys: north_america · Relatively common
Known for: Slender dragonfly, Yellow wash at the base of each wing, Face pale, Often seen well away from water
Understand the animal
Understand the Variegated Meadowhawk
Factual biology first: what this animal is like, where it lives, how it survives, and why those traits exist.
01
Introduction to Variegated Meadowhawk
Most meadowhawks live and die near the pond they emerged from. The Variegated Meadowhawk treats a continent as one habitat, riding fronts south in autumn and returning north to breed, so a drying marsh is a reason to leave rather than a reason to fail.
How to identify a Variegated Meadowhawk
- Slender dragonfly, 38-42 mm, with a yellow-and-brown or red abdomen
- Yellow wash at the base of each wing, strongest on the hindwing
- Face pale, eyes reddish-brown in mature males
- Often seen well away from water, including over roads and fields
Why Variegated Meadowhawk are interesting
- It is one of the few North American dragonflies with a regular long-distance migration, moving with weather fronts rather than along a fixed corridor.
- Autumn swarms can appear far from any breeding pond, including over the ocean and high mountain passes.
- Males do not hold a territory the way pond dragonflies do. They find females at water and leave.
- Nymphs develop in shallow, often temporary, wetlands, so the adult's willingness to travel is what keeps the species in contact with water that is not there year-round.
- Colour changes with age: young adults are yellow-brown and mature males redden, which is why the same species is described as both.
02
Adaptations and biological abilities
03
Why does Variegated Meadowhawk behave this way?
- Slender dragonfly, 38-42 mm, with a yellow-and-brown or red abdomen
- Yellow wash at the base of each wing, strongest on the hindwing
- Face pale, eyes reddish-brown in mature males
- Often seen well away from water, including over roads and fields
Active by day, most visible in warm sun, roosting in low vegetation at night and riding weather systems when a front is moving.
04
Why Native range keys: north_america. Ponds?
Habitat: Native range keys: north_america. Ponds, marshes, irrigation ditches and temporary wetlands across North America, plus the fields and coasts it crosses between them. Permanent water is useful; the ability to leave when it fails is the point.
Native range: Native range keys: north_america. Ponds, marshes, irrigation ditches and temporary wetlands across North America, plus the fields and coasts it crosses between them. Permanent water is useful; the ability to leave when it fails is the point.
Native range
Natural range, not this specific capture location.
Native range keys: north_america. Ponds, marshes, irrigation ditches and temporary wetlands across North America, plus the fields and coasts it crosses between them. Permanent water is useful; the ability to leave when it fails is the point.
05
Why this diet?
Small flying insects taken on the wing — midges, mosquitoes and other flies — both at water and along the migration route. Feeding away from a territory is what makes a long crossing possible.
06
Activity, rest, and lifespan
Active by day, most visible in warm sun, roosting in low vegetation at night and riding weather systems when a front is moving.
Adults live several weeks to a few months; the migratory circuit is completed by more than one generation in a year.
07
Variegated Meadowhawk reproduction
Eggs are dropped into shallow water or damp mud. Nymphs can finish in a single season in a warm wetland, which is why a temporary pool is enough.
Mature males become redder on the abdomen; females and young adults stay yellow-brown with darker side stripes. Both sexes carry the yellow wing-base wash.
08
Predators, threats, and defense
Birds take migrating adults in numbers; fish and aquatic insects take nymphs. There is no nest to defend, so the answer to pressure is to keep moving.
09
Conservation and rarity
Rarity: Relatively common · 14/100. AnimalDex canonical rarity score: 14/100, maintained by the live indexed species profile.
- Observe from a respectful distance and avoid changing the animal's behavior.
- Do not block feeding, shelter, nesting, or travel routes.
- Use a live camera capture without handling or staging wildlife.
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Where to find them
Where to find Variegated Meadowhawk
To find Variegated Meadowhawk in the wild, focus on the exact habitat patches that match its body design and daily behavior, not just the broad country where it exists. You usually do better by working one good piece of habitat inside native range keys: north_america. Ponds, marshes, irrigation ditches and temporary wetlands across North America, plus the fields and coasts it crosses between them. Permanent water is useful; the ability to leave when it fails is the point. than by covering too much ground.
- Quiet marsh edges, reedbeds, river bends, or shallow wetland margins
- Headlands, reef edges, island colonies, tidal channels, or productive coastal water
- Protected habitat blocks within native range keys: north_america. Ponds, marshes, irrigation ditches and temporary wetlands across North America, plus the fields and coasts it crosses between them. Permanent water is useful; the ability to leave when it fails is the point.
Animal field guide
Variegated Meadowhawk
Most meadowhawks live and die near the pond they emerged from. The Variegated Meadowhawk treats a continent as one habitat, riding fronts south in autumn and returning north to breed, so a drying marsh is a reason to leave rather than a reason to fail.
Native range
Natural range, not this capture location
Native range keys: north_america. Ponds, marshes, irrigation ditches and temporary wetlands across North America, plus the fields and coasts it crosses between them. Permanent water is useful; the ability to leave when it fails is the point.
Search near meAnimalDex stats
Dominance
12
Speed
28
Size
5
Intelligence
18
Rarity
14%
Total
77
Size scale
Scientific name
Sympetrum corruptum
Category
Animal
Habitat
Native range keys: north_america. Ponds, marshes, irrigation ditches and temporary wetlands across North America, plus the fields and coasts it crosses between them. Permanent water is useful; the ability to leave when it fails is the point.
Rarity
Relatively common · 14/100
Native range
Native range keys: north_america. Ponds, marshes, irrigation ditches and temporary wetlands across North America, plus the fields and coasts it crosses between them. Permanent water is useful; the ability to leave when it fails is the point.
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