Saddlebags
July 7, 2009
Walking along the edge of the lawn where it adjoins the lilies and the coneflowers, I sometimes see dragonflies cruising over the shrubbery or gliding low over the grass in their continual search for insects to be captured on the wing. The globe skimmers among them often glint golden in the sunlight, as they race back and forth over the greenery. The larger, stockier appearing saddlebags dragonflies, with their black bodies and black patches on the wings close to the body, generally appear dark against the sky, but in certain conditions may give off coppery sparks as they momentarily seem to hover in the sun’s rays.
This morning, as I walk beside the green stalks of unopened lilies, a large dragonfly having patches of color on the wings glides over the plants slowly, circles, and hovers, as if preparing to settle on a lily bud. It descends to perch on a stalk growing on a small rise, so that the dragonfly as it lands is about level with my head. My first thought is of the familiar black saddlebags. However, the coloring strikes as not that of a black saddlebags and the behavior differs markedly from the constantly flying black saddlebags, which I have seldom seen perched. Quickly snapping two photos, I move around the dragonfly for a shots from a different angle. Before I can take the photos, the dragonfly lifts off and darts away over the grasses toward the south.
So ends my first ever encounter with the Carolina Saddlebags, an uncommon dragonfly in New York City.
Posted at: 04:36 PM | Add Comment
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