Dragonflies are cool

Dragonflies are cool because they come in jewel tones and earth tones. Dragonflies are cool because they hover and swivel like little helicopter gunships. Mostly, though, dragonflies are cool because they eat mosquitoes.

I hate mosquitoes.

We have plenty here at the new place; big ones, little ones ... nighttime biters, daytime biters. I think I'm getting more allergic, too. I came in from a brief photo foray with my legs covered in welts.

I hate mosquitoes.

Our very wet spring has been a boon to the mozzy population around here. In turn, dragonflies are thronging our backyard. It's some mighty crowded airspace, between the birds, butterflies, dragonflies, mosquitoes and wasps.

I suspect one of the spiny orb weavers is providing air traffic control.

Twice today, cicadas bounced off the patio roof with a startled buzz. Either their Terrain Avoidance Warning Systems are on the fritz, or they're not on the right frequency.

I don't have the foggiest idea what species these dragonflies are. They're either darners, or clubtails, or spiketails, or petaltails or skimmers or emeralds. I think that about covers the possibilities here in Texas.

I hung two bird feeders yesterday, but so far the birds haven't found them. Bet they do sometime this week.

Tam had the only snake sighting today. She got up from her chair on the porch and uttered a rapid succession of "Ooh, ooh, ooh ..."

"What?" I asked. She just pointed to the ground at the edge of the deck.

I looked down to see the tail of the Texas garter snake, probably the same one I saw yesterday, disappearing into the recesses of some pretty good cover. We've agreed that she will try to use more descriptive language in the future.

Our excellent neighbors said they haven't seen many snakes, but they did have a raccoon on the back fence the other day. Deer have mosied up to their back yard. And bobcats, but that was a while ago, before the other side of the creek was developed.

Still, almost anything could show up. Streams -- even mostly dry ones -- are like that. They serve as both habitat and corridors for wildlife. I'm glad we have one in the backyard.

[Ah, but I do know what these dragonflies are! Some of them, anyhow. The first two dragonfly photos are of a male and female band-winged dragonlet, Erythrodiplax umbrata. The male is the one with the banded wings and has not yet developed mature coloration The female has the plain wings. The third photo is of a dragonfly I still have not identified. The lavendar-colored dragonfly at bottom right is a male roseate skimmer, Orthemis ferruginea. "They are pretty common in central Texas, but even so I still have people who sidle up and whisper 'I saw a pink dragonfly' as though I would think they had been sampling the home brew before it was ready," said Forrest Mitchell, co-author of A Dazzle of Dragonflies. Forrest was kind enough to help me with the identification of three of these photos. For high-resolution scans of live dragonflies, visit his site: The Digital Dragonfly Museum.]