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| Odonates are yummy! Dragonflies can bite (and sometimes even draw blood!) - but, the thing is, I bite back. If you look closely at this Swamp Darner's abdominal tip you can see that I'm actually scaring the you-know-what out of him. I'd like to assume that it was fear of predation and not my breath that caused this reaction. |
So, after four summers of sloshing through wetlands, mud, and muck--covered in ticks, leeches, mosquitos and swimmer's itch--swollen with creeping hives from stinging nettles and hyper reactions to deer fly bites-- and slipping, sliding and submerging myself in rivers, creeks and streams--I am finally finished with my first photo field guide in what I hope will be a series of natural history guides for our area and the Chicago Wilderness. My first book, entitled Damselflies of Chicagoland, can be accessed as a free downloadable pdf file on the Chicago Field Museum website: http://fm2.fieldmuseum.org/plantguides/damselflies .
McHenry and Lake Counties are blessed with some of the few remaining wetlands in Illinois. They contain some unique, and in some instances high quality, aquatic habitats where aquatic invertebrates like damselflies and dragonflies (who spend most of their life in a larval form under the water) can thrive. There are 39 species of damselflies (part of the order of insects to which dragonflies belong) in McHenry County. They are colorful, thin as a straight pin, little beasties that flit low amongst the grasses and emergent vegetation at the edge of waterways. Squat down, look closely and your world will brighten before your eyes--I promise!
My plan is to have the next installment Dragonflies of Chicagoland up and published in two to three more years (depending on whether my knees and energy level stay intact). Submitted by M.G.
