Dragonfly (Green Darner)

Hello! My name is Darner, and I’m a Green Darner Dragonfly. My story doesn’t start in the air, but under the water of a quiet pond. I hatched from a tiny egg in August of 2022, laid on a lily pad. The nymph stage of Green Darners can last from several months to a few years, depending on environmental conditions. I wasn't green and shiny then; I was brown and bumpy to blend in with the mud at the bottom of the pond. Even though I was small, I was a mighty hunter. I had a super-fast, extendable jaw that I used to snatch tadpoles and tiny fish that swam too close. As I got bigger and stronger, I shed my skin many times. I could feel that I was preparing for a big change that was coming soon.

In the early summer of 2023, a powerful feeling told me it was time to leave my underwater home forever. I crawled up the sturdy stalk of a cattail reed, and my legs gripped it tightly as I left the water for the very first time. The sun felt so warm and different on my back. Then, something truly amazing happened. My old brown skin began to split open right down my back, and slowly, I pulled my new body out. My four wings were shimmering but crinkly, so I had to wait patiently for them to pump full of fluid and harden in the air. This incredible transformation was my metamorphosis, and it turned me from a water creature into a master of the sky.

My first flight was a little wobbly, but soon I was zipping through the air like an expert. My body was now a bright, grassy green, and my long abdomen was a brilliant blue. My best feature was my huge compound eyes, which could see in almost every direction at once. This made me an excellent hunter. I learned that I could fly forward, backward, and even hover in one spot like a tiny helicopter. I spent the long summer days chasing after mosquitoes and gnats. I would catch them right out of the air with my legs and help to keep the insect world in balance. It was a wonderful and free feeling to soar over the fields and the pond that I once called home from below.

As the summer of 2023 turned to autumn, the air grew crisp, and I felt another ancient call deep inside me. It was time to migrate. I wasn't alone; I joined a huge swarm of other Green Darners, and together we flew south, chasing the warm weather. We traveled for hundreds of miles, looking like a shimmering river of green and blue moving through the sky. My kind has been making these incredible journeys for a very long time. In fact, Dru Drury first described the species as Libellula junia in 1773; it was later renamed Anax junius. He knew that we were special travelers even then.

My own time in the sky was a season of sunshine and wind. When I reached the warm south, I found a peaceful pond and laid my own eggs, just as my mother had done for me. My story doesn't end with me, because I am part of a great, continuing cycle. The next spring, my grandchildren will hatch and begin their journey north. We Green Darners are travelers and hunters, and we are a vital part of the world around us. Green darner dragonflies help maintain the health of ponds and skies by controlling insect populations. Their annual multi-generational migration between North and Central America is a remarkable natural event.