This morning when I opened the living room curtains, I discovered a large dragonfly clinging to one of our birdscreens. Last night the temperature dipped into the upper 40's and low 50's, so this female Green Darner (Anax junius) was a bit lethargic and pretty easy to capture without causing any harm to it.
I brought it inside and took a number of macro photographs of it against a white sheet of paper - they sure are pretty amazing up close...check out its impressive compound eye! After several minutes, the warming of the lamp stirred the dragonfly and its wings began to quiver - it was ready to be released.
I quickly brought it back outside and gently attached to the birdscreen, but it only stayed for a short while and was soon off. Hopefully, it's doing its part to help control the mosquito population! It seems like gazillions of mosquitoes hatched in southern Wisconsin the past few days.
Dragonfly Links:
Link: More information about the Green Darner
Link: About Dragonflies
Link: Dragonfly Morphology
Link: Dragonfly Society of the Americas
All images © 2006 Mike McDowell
