DELTA ready for our walk to the “Lily Pond”
Today we’ve decided to go on an outing to a local lily pond. Lunches are packed for Axie and I. Darby, Delta, Dixie, and Dex will find plenty on offer while in flight to and around the pond. This was Darby’s suggestion. He spotted this particular “pond” while flying back from his visit with Dash and Driscoll. He says he would have dropped in for a snack then, if he was sure he would make it back home before dark. (Shhhh… Darby is afraid of the dark. He doesn’t want anyone to know.)
Dixie Flitting around some Pink Wildflowers.
I will pack extra sunscreen and repellent for the pesky two-winged insects. Though, as my friends are dragonflies, I may only us the sunscreen. The Fancifulls will take care of many biting flies that come too close. Did you know that dragonflies aren’t really flies at all? They have 6 legs, as do black flies, biting midges (no-see-ums), sand flies and mosquitoes. Those flies belong to the zoological order Diptera. Dragonflies, however, have four prominent wings which puts them in a different zoological order – Odonata, an order shared with one other group -Damselflies. With only two zoological groups in the order, you can be forgiven for believing there would be few species. However, there are over 5000 distinct species of Dragonflies alone in this order. Dragonflies have been around for over 250 million years! Maybe this is why they can innocently lunch-munch on 30 to 100 of the newer order of two-winged fliers every day. Dragonflies are 100% carnivorous.
I’m still trying to determine if Dragonflies have teeth. Smithsonian Magazine states that they do while other relevant resources state otherwise. ‘Odon’ is old Greek for tooth so my limited research will continue. What I can state, unequivocally, is that Dixie does have teeth, those of her attached, copper alligator clip.
Dragonflies have a very strong mandible jaw, and if captured, may clamp down on their perceived enemy’s skin, to aid in their escape. This may feel like a bite. Update June 9, 2020 – Dragonflies technically have teeth. However, it is their strong mandible jaw clamping down that humans feel when a dragonfly is defending itself.
I’ll include pictures of our trip to the lily pond in a future blog post. For now, Axie says it’s time to start his real day which means a real walk, not this one I imagined at 4am. 🙂
Sue and the Axe-Man and all the Fancifulls of Oh Valley