I noticed this year that I seem to have an abundance of dragonflies here and among those, a pretty good variety of species. This morning, while I was out enjoying the somewhat cool air and a cup of coffee, the dragons were putting on quite an air show but I managed to capture a few images of some of them resting.
In trying to identify these, I found some interesting info on them. In many cultures, they are considered evil, an accomplice to the devil even. I remember when I was a child, it was common to hear the older people, here in the South, refer to them as 'snake doctors'. Purportedly, for their habit of following the reptiles around in order to assist the snake if it was injured. I was fascinated with this idea and often thought I might be lucky enough one day to spot a 'snake doctor' with his patient. Alas, I never did!
Despite being blessed with 6 legs, they do not have the ability to walk. But they love mosquitoes! I remember seeing one not too long ago, perched on a rock in the flower bed, absolutely stuffing his face with a large mosquito in true Cookie Monster fashion. It was great! I never was able to locate a good source for ID so I have no idea what these species are. If you know feel free to inform the rest of us.
I have often wondered why we love the dragonfly so. I have a small birdbath (that I made) with a dragonfly inscribed in the bowl and several stained glass ones that adorn some of my potted plants. Is it their alien beauty? Do their bright colors attract us, even appeal to our greedy subconscious with their jewel-like vibrancy? Or is it because, when they nod to us with those enormous eyes, they seem to know something we don't? Something ancient that we, as a species, have never been privy to because we just wouldn't get it.
I think that somehow, when they acquiesce to sit next to us in the garden, it simply makes us feel that just maybe, there is a little hope for us. Maybe, we with only two legs aren't so bad after all. Maybe one day we will finally understand.*Queen
9 comments:
I wonder if they eat horseflies too. We have many more dragons this year than years past, but so far this summer the horseflies have been almost nonexistent.
Maybe there's an abundance this year because you AL folks had lots of rain earlier.
They are pretty fascinating critters. Nice writing too!
Great post -- beautiful pictures.
I've always loved watching dragonflies, that green one is stunning!
Hey Pablo! Possibly; they eat most any flying insect, even bees and butterflies, unfortunately. And they can outfly most anything.
Hey FC! That's possible too. Whatever the reason I'm glad for it. The deer fly don't seem as bad this year so maybe the dragons are chowing on them too. Oh, and thanks!
Hey Pea! thanks!
Hey Molly! He is isn't he!? The blue one was nice too but his color just didn't show up as well in the pic.
I never thought about that - why do we love dragonflies so? And I had forgotten about hearing them called snake doctors, thanks for mentioning that.
Hey Patsy! I had forgotten myself about snake doctors but somewhere I heard it again, not too long ago.
Great dragonfly post and photos, ER. I've got lots of flying beasies here too, but the dragonflies are harder to photograph.
Thanks so much for the visit and I'm happy you enjoyed The Lamp Post story.
Hey Rosie! Thanks for stopping by! yes, the dragons are very hard to photograph but just their sheer numbers let me catch a few.
I've enjoyed your blog for a while and just laughed my head off at that story. Sounded just like some of the crap I used to get into.
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