On Saturday, July 12th, Jim Childress led us through field, marsh, and wood in a course on dragonflies and damselflies. Jim pointed out that they are the carnivores of the insect world cruising about searching for anything they can catch, even other dragonflies. The males set up “shop” over territories which can be as small as twelve feet. Females live elsewhere until they are ready to mate. Then they lay eggs one at a time as they fly above the water dipping their tails and ovipositors into the water. Fish take advantage of this to grab a free meal or two. On Saturday we saw: Common Whitetail, Widow Skimmer, Slaty Skimmer, Spangled Skimmer, Common Pondhawk, Cyrano Darner, Blue Dasher, Variable Dancer, Common Sanddragon, Slender Bluet, Prince Baskettail, Eastern Amberwing, and Ebony Jewelwing.
