Last weekend there were 100's of dragonflies flying above the beach at Father Hennepin State Park. I watched them briefly, then sat down to look at the park map. Almost immediately a dragonfly landed on it. Then moved to my bag.
Soon it hopped onto my skin. I placed my finger in front so I could take a photo showing how large it was.
Then, it climbed on.
It soon flew away. But by paying attention to that individual dragonfly, I became quiet enough to lay down and observe the beauty of the 100's flying above me. Sometimes I would watch them en masse. Sometimes I would pick an individual and try to follow it as it flew - back, then forth, then sideways, then down...When I got back to my campsite I observed this scene. I assumed it was mating though it didn't look quite right.
Eventually I found out one ate the other (only the tail, wings, and a bit of the eye remained). They were pretty clearly the same species and size as far as I can tell. I should have asked if there was a naturalist at the park to explain this, because the internet is not helping me. Nowhere does it list dragonflies as cannibalistic. Hmmm.[I wrote this post ahead of time as I won't be on a computer Sunday, so my gratitudes today are in my journal. I wanted to share this experience though. Thanks!]
Interesting that you wrote about dragonflies for today. As I was climbing the steps to my house after my last day at St. Luke, a half dozen or so dragonflies left the flowerbeds as if on cue. It was amazing. I paused for a moment to watch them then and occassionally throughout the day as they presented themselves. Blessings.
ReplyDeleteHave you tried to "Ask a Librarian?" http://www.hclib.org/pub/search/Ask.cfm
ReplyDeleteI've only used it once or twice, but they gave me an answer right away! Seriously, the library rocks - as you know. :)