Dragon(flies) to the rescue! #phenology

A week or ten days ago we had an explosion in the local mosquito population. One day there were none to speak of, the next day we were getting swarmed. There aren’t enough mosquito-eating birds around to put a reasonable dent in the population. There had been very few bat sightings, although the bat nesting box is still mounted on an oak tree. The dragonfly population finally caught up with the mosquito abundance yesterday or today. Now there are lots of dragonflies and soon, we hope, many fewer mosquitos. If the sequence had been reversed. there would have been a lot of very hungry dragonflies.

Chalk-fronted Corporal (on left) Common Whitetail [female] (on right)

Photo by J. Harrington

Our debt to dragonflies, a more natural control on mosquitos than spraying, has me thinking about rereading Ursula K. Le Guin’s Earthsea series. The dragons in those stories are my penultimate favorites, right after Puff, the Magic Dragon, as sung by Peter, Paul and Mary. When Daughter Person was much younger, we used to sing it together. Do you have a favorite dragon?

We increased the likelihood that much of June will be cooler than usual. Today we had a technician check our air conditioning system. It basically passed with flying colors. If we hadn’t had the inspection scheduled, or the equipment required expensive repairs using parts that would take weeks to get here, it’s likely this month would be much warmer than normal. You don’t have to thank us now.

Fly, Dragonfly!

By Joyce Sidman

Water nymph, you have

climbed from the shallows to don

your dragon-colors.

Perched on a reed stem

all night, shedding your skin, you dry

your wings in moonlight.

 

Night melts into day.

Swift birds wait to snap you up.

Fly, dragonfly! Fly!

 

********************************************
Thanks for visiting. Come again when you can.
Please be kind to each other while you can.