Common Green Darner Even though I first photographed waves of migrating Monarch butterflies and reported on their incredible and epic journey in the 1970s, I continue to find it hard to believe that insects can travel such long distances. Nor are butterflies the only entomological migrants. A number of dragonfly species head south every September. Among the best documented is the Common Green Darner, a large and strong flier that, these days, I often find patrolling the meadows in feeding swarms made up of dozens of individuals. Common Greens, in their hey-day, are almost impossible to net, but as they get ready to move south, they seem to spend more time resting along the edges of the fields. I guess they're conserving energy. Good for them, and lucky for me, since I can now find them—the bull's eye in front is a giveaway—and, if I'm quite quick, get a picture before they startle and return to the air.