soapbox

This Lancet Clubtail (Gomphus exilis) was shot near Rockport, MA. Click to see a larger version; the wing detail is pretty cool. These dragonflies eat mosquitos; so they’re good guys in my book, but they don’t eat enough of them to totally protect the innocent nature photographer. I got pretty bit up in the wetland area where this was taken.

Another cool thing about dragonflies: they have nearly a 360 degree field of view. They use the fact that they can see behind themselves to emply a technique called motion camouflage. The dragonfly chooses a distant landmark, and as it approaches its moving prey it stays on the prey’s line of sight to the landmark. That causes the prey to perceive the attacking dragonfly as stationary. The dragonfly appears to just get larger while staying in the same place until it hits the prey.