A Lover of Dragonflies

The magic of a dragonfly in flight with the sun glinting on its wings holds me spellbound every time.  For several years I’ve been fascinated by the variety of colors and challenged taking their pictures.
The current issue of Audubon Magazine (July-August 2012) has an article on the increasing popularity of ‘Chasing Dragons’.  The article points out that birding and butterfly watching have long been popular and that watching dragonflies is new to many people.  There are, of course, great photographs accompanying the article.  http://mag.http://www.audubonmagazine.com/audubon.org/
Not to be outdone, I’m sharing some of mine with you!  It seems I need to write a post once a year about dragonflies!  If you really look at these fascinating creatures, you’ll see large multifaceted eyes, two pairs of strong transparent wings, and an elongated body that ends in a variety of shapes.


Some dragonflies tend to perch and fly from plant to plant.  Some seam to flit all the time and make me wonder where they get their energy.   They do not sting, bite or cause humans problems and they eat insects like mosquitoes!

They are usually found around marshes, lakes, ponds, streams, and wetlands because their larvae, known as "nymphs", are aquatic. Some 5680 different species of dragonflies are known in the world today. (Quote from Wikipedia)
There are many good books and blogs if you are interested in joining the ‘dragon chase’!
http://www.amazon.com/Stokes-Beginners-Guide-Dragonflies-Nikula
http://www.amazon.com/s/?ie=UTF8&keywords=dragonfly+field+guide&tag=googhydr-20&index=stripbooks&hvadid=1148127041&hvpos=1t1&hvexid=&hvnetw=g&hvrand=1971794551439504251&hvpone=&hvptwo=&hvqmt=b&ref=pd_sl_11i65f6o67_b
 http://marciabonta.com/category/insects/dragonflies/
http://vawatercentralnewsgrouper.wordpress.com/2012/06/20/calling-dragonfly-watchers/

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Comments

  1. UnknownJuly 3, 2012 at 8:26 AM

    Oh, Linda these are outstanding. The orange one, particularly, just blows me away. And the others are so sweet and beautiful. Thanks, as always, for sharing!

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