Common green darner Facts for Kids
Anax junius · AY-naks JOO-nee-us
A green dragonfly that, like birds, may fly far south for winter.
- 🏃 37 mph60 km/h1
- ⚖️ weight: not yet checked
- 📏 3 in7.6 cm2 long
- 🎂 lifespan: not yet checked
- 🍽️ bugs
- Doing fine (Least Concern)
The green darner is a big dragonfly with a green body. It has four clear wings and huge eyes. It zooms over ponds, catching mosquitoes.
A dragonfly has huge eyes that wrap around its head, so it can see almost all around. It can fly forward, hover and even backward, moving each of its four wings on its own. Baby darners, called nymphs, live underwater and hunt tiny water animals until they climb a plant stem and crawl out of their old skin with wings.
Green darners are among the few dragonflies that make long migrations. In fall many fly south to warmer places, and their young fly back north in spring. Scientists have followed them with tiny radio tags to learn where they go. Darners need clean ponds and wetlands, where their nymphs can grow up safely.
How big is a common green darner?
Common green darner in numbers
| Length | 3 in7.6 cm2body length |
|---|---|
| Height at the shoulder | no checked number yet |
| Weight | no checked number yet |
| Top speed (flying) | 37 mph60 km/h1flying; dragonflies in general |
| How long it lives | no checked number yet |
| What it eats | mosquitoes, flies, midges and other small flying insects |
| Where it lives | ponds, marshes and meadows across North America, with some flying south for winter |
| What kind | Bugs and other animals without backbones |
| Is it in danger? | Doing fine (Least Concern)3 |
A number we couldn’t find on a page we trust says so, instead of guessing.
Wow!
- Its ancestors flew long before the dinosaurs.
- It can hover and fly backward.
- Each of its four wings moves on its own.
Compare the common green darner
Friends and neighbours
Monarch butterfly
Common eastern firefly
American bullfrogThree questions
Books about the common green darner, free at the library
Ask a grown-up to tap the button: it shows where to borrow a book about the common green darner for free.
- 🐸 More rivers, lakes and ponds animals
- 🐝 More bugs and other animals without backbones
- 🐾 All the animals
Where these numbers come from
- National Park Service, Species Spotlight: Dragonflies, checked 30 October 2026.
- National Park Service, Mississippi National River & Recreation Area, checked 30 October 2026.
- Wikidata, from the IUCN Red List, checked 30 October 2026.
- Wikidata, Common green darner (Q175808), checked 30 October 2026.