I have for these many decades admired Dragonflies. Never, in those 1,000,000 hours in the field, has a dragonfly ever bothered me. In an earlier post here, I retold the real life experience I had with one as a boy in Brooklyn. We lived on the edge of development in the 1950’s, and an undeveloped ‘lot’ was around the corner from my house. That’s where this Love of wildlife began, believe it or not.

One day, I, proud of my speed and street skills (I grew up on those streets, with very interesting friends, so to speak), decided to prove to myself that I was fast enough to catch a good-sized dragonfly in mid-air. Know what? I did, I caught a big one, that’s how fast I was. Arrrrrrrgh! The pain of it’s bite was unbelievable!! I respected my Connected friends and that morning, I came to respect dragonflies forever.

No dragonfly has ever bothered me since, despite the Disrespect that I showed to that East 57th Street dragonfly.

Now, 4 months in, at our home in North Macon, Georgia, the mosquitoes in our natives Georgia backyard are beyond nuisance. I want to put out a ‘Come On Down’ call to dragonflies to come and make this their home, come and daily devour your weight in mosquitoes. No chemicals Leslie, no chemicals. Dragonflies.

Please share what you know of how to attract dragonflies to our central Georgia yard. You’ve got dragonfly tips?

Oh, and this darner was seen at Big Bend Wildlife Management Area – Spring Unit, in Florida’s northern Panhandle.

Jeff