Last weekend, I spotted and caught (then released) the dragonfly in the photo above. Most dragonflies are migratory, but there are a few rare native species that are non-migratory, and stay put all their lives in the same area.
Researcher tracing red dragonflies
The Yomiuri Shimbun
A 65-year-old former staffer at the National Institute for Environmental Studies is investigating the migratory habits of Japanese Akiakane red dragonflies hatched at Lake Kasumigaura in Mihomura, Ibaraki Prefecture.
Seiichi Kasuga is tracing the migratory paths of 250 dragonflies hatched at the south bank of the lake, after marking their wings with red paint to identify them.
The dragonflies are known to hatch in late June in the lowlands and move to the cooler mountain elevations in summer, returning to the lowlands in autumn. However, it is unknown how far the dragonfly travels. Most dragonflies hatched around Lake Kasumigaura are believed to spend the summer on Mt. Tsukuba in the prefecture about 40 kilometers away.
NATURE IN JAPAN 