LIFE AS I SEE IT – with one eye closed.

Most insects are a nuisance, biting or stinging. This one doesn’t bite even though they have serrated teeth.

They have been around some 300 million years and continue to fascinate people of all  ages. Their larval state in water can last up to 2 years, while they devour other insects, fish, and even each other. When it emerges from the water, it’s exoskeleton cracks open and releases the insect’s abdomen. The wings come out to dry and harden over the next several hours or days.

Dragonflies can fly  up or down, hover, and also mate in mid-air. To survive they must fly,  as that is the only way to catch their prey. A single dragonfly can eat 30 to hundreds of mosquitoes a day.  Hundreds will gather in swarms to migrate; some for short distances, some average around a 100 miles a day, and one, called a globe skinner will travel 11,000 miles back and forth across the Indian Ocean.

Their head is comprised  mostly of two compound eyes, which gives them almost 360 degree vision.These beneficial insects have survived since before the dinosaurs. I hope that their future is guaranteed (that will be in part up to us) so that coming generations can benefit from these unique creatures. It makes sense to me that any insect that can eat up to a hundred  mosquitoes a day is worth protecting.

I look forward to their arrival each year at the lake; being entertained by their ballet like dance, hoping that a few will land on my hand. But alas,no such luck, they are to occupied securing their Future.