Dragonflies and Damselflies

On Saturday I went to a dragonfly and damselfly identification class.  We enjoyed a PowerPoint presentation on these flying insects and then we went out into Carlos Avery Wildlife Area to catch them and try to identify them.  I leaned quite a bit about these creatures who can only fly when the sun is shining and the temperature is above 77 degrees.  Dragonflies are fair weather friends!  Their wings are attached by muscles along their thorax so they can use each of their four wings independently.  They can fly up, down, upside-down, forwards and even backwards.  They are the fighter pilots of the insect world. They can't smell or hear but they can see very well.  And they are very difficult to catch in a net.  I did manage to catch one dragonfly - a female widow skimmer.  Our group caught a half dozen species in this field.  We saw male dragonflies defending their territory and chasing other males out of their section of this field.  With the heat the the biting deer flies, about an hour was enough time to spend in the field.  I was glad to have this chance to learn more about nature and spend time with other tree huggers like me.