This image was taken on our digital camera of eggs laid by several pairs of Cardinal Meadowhawks over a period of several days during the last week of March '03. We had a tray of underwater plants (Elodea) placed in the shallow water of the beach and found that it became the favorite place for them to oviposit. The top image is the 'whole picture' and the lower image is a 'zoom in' on it. We had a lot of string algae growth and everywhere on the pond; the Cardinal Meadowhawks preferred to oviposit onto such a mat.

The eggs that are white colored are the eggs that were laid recently, the dark colored eggs have already begun development. I've read that a Cardinal Meadowhawk female can lay up to 300 eggs at a time. To see another photo of Cardinal Meadowhawk eggs, greatly enlarged, click here!