OHIO – Did you know that dragonflies migrate? Every spring and fall large dragonflies called free darners fly across North America and thats why lots of Ohioans are seeing them now.
Green Dragonflies can travel up to 900 miles from North America and some parts of Canada to the Gulf of Mexico for the winter. This mass migration actually takes three life cycles to complete every year. Last Year National Weather Cleveland caught it on the weather station.
In early spring dragonflies fly North as far as they can, lay eggs and die. The second generation hatched in the North and by September starts to fly south to, you guessed it lay eggs and die also. The third generation doesnt migrate at all, but spends its life cycle were its warm for the winter and around the time of the thaw lays eggs and dies. The cycle then repeats itself the the next year, how and why is something scientist haven’t been able to explain yet, but they believe that it has to do with temperature.
So if you are seeing a large group of generation two dragonflies this September wish them a good trip because they are going to fly up to 900 miles on those little wings soon.
