Hi! The other day just before the first end of summer cool front blew through, the sky over the dunes was filled with dragonflies! Like a swarm of tiny birds or planes....dozens, maybe thousands. The air was still and hot and sunny.
I am not afraid of dragonflies---I find them beautiful and interesting. But these were quite large and busy and...intimidating. I estimate they are 3- 4" in size, not the small, pretty, iridescent green dragonflies of the swales and marshes. And now and then they'd hit my big window with a definite bang. Not a day to sit outside and sew....
They were entirely gone the following day.
These guys look black! I don't know what kind they are...
I checked my nature diary, and I see they have appeared every year since I began this diary in 2004. Either the last week of August or first weeks of September. I looked them up online and it seems they do migrate...somewhere. Not a huge amount is known but---so cool-- now scientists have invented tiny trackers that they can glue to the dragonflies' undersides. Then they are set free and their migratory trip south are being studied. Can you imagine a tracker so minute that it doesn't weigh down the little creatures---they can fly and live and go to the Caribbean, trackers on bellies. link, here
Here is the only photo I was able to take this week, cropped for ''detail"...they don't hold still!
Lots of cloud shots though. The dragonflies would alight on my deck rail, but as soon as I'd aim the camera, off they'd go.
You can google dragonfly images if you want to see better photos; the dragonflies, up close, are quite beautiful. here
I did find some drawings in my sketchbooks....
This is a Cape Cod version.....
Do you enjoy watching and learning about nature? Do you notice the flocks of migrating birds and butterflies? I picked it up from my parents...and much to my pleasure and surprise, I now see that my kids are taking an interest too.
love
lizzy
gone to the beach
.jpg)
Oh, I so love your sketchbook. I could sit and look at your books for days.
ReplyDeleteThe whales are our big visitors that come and go with the tides. I miss them when they finish "driving by" each year.
Thank you again for sharing your sunny piece of the world with us. You are the best.
Hunter
I didn't know dragonflies migrated! I think I know the kind you mean, though. I thought they were called mosquito hawks or something but when I looked it up on Google I was wrong. I did find this page http://www.xerces.org/dragonfly-migration/ and if you go down past the short article there is a PDF Migratory Dragonfly Field Identification Guide that shows pictures and details of all the migratory dragonflies. Maybe you can find yours?
ReplyDeleteI like dragonflies....but I think a whole swarm of them at once would freak me out....