Dragon flies but I can't ID the genius. Interesting bugs. They can't walk and lay eggs in water.

Lisa, I see lots of them around my house. I can't imagine why because no water around me. Some of them are very colorful. They will eat butterflies, too.

Susan

Those are beautiful, Lisa!
My neighbors all have BIG ponds, so I see a lot of dragonflies and damselflies. I've got a dragonfly/damselfly ID book. I'm pretty sure that the first two pictures are of a male eastern amberwing dragonfly, the second picture shows a pair - male and female - of familiar bluets, and the last picture is a common whitetail dragonfly.
Sherry

Thanks!!! The Whitetail dragonfly kept catching my attention. He was huge and the black markings on his wings reminded me of flags they use to help direct planes. I had seen the bluets before, but neither of the other two.

Everyone else was catching fish....I was capturing my catch on "film". :)

Lisa

Beautiful; I just saw my first over the weekend, earlier than usual. They're great mosquito eaters. I never knew they ate butterflies too; now I'm not so fond of them :(

Yes, they will roost and patrol my garden looking for goodies. I don't, however, find them as much of a threat as the wasps that fly low around the plants actually searching for caterpillars. I find them often perching on my trellises, and in the honeysuckle tree.

Susan

I've never seen them take a butterfly, so I don't think butterflies could be a big part of their diet. Where I DO see them a lot is darting around small insect swarms, like gnats and mosquitoes.
Sherry

Every year I have a pair of bats flying around like mad high above my neighbors pool, and plenty more above the baseball field across the street from my house. It's thrilling to watch them at dusk. Last night, one of the bats was above the pool, as usual, as was a dragonfly. It was funny watching them both fluttering around together.

A few years ago, just after I had gotten home from work (5:30-ish), there had to be thousands of dragonflies flying around, from the field across the street to the empty lot next door to me and down to my neighbors house. There was a girls softball team playing in the field at that time. People standing around, looking up, in amazement. My young daughter & I standing in the driveway, absolutely still, just watching them. She actually decided to go inside, and I was starting to get a little freaked out too, wondering if I'd get smacked by some of them. I didn't get hit by one, surprisingly. It was an incredible sight for me, something I'll never forget. I've never seen that since :(

They are such totally amazing creatures, but voracious hunters! Mosquitos are a huge part of their diet, as are most water bugs. Don't know how many will actually take down bflies, but I can stand to lose a couple if they keep up on the skeeters.

It seems to me that they would only be able to eat very small BFs and moths, if any.
-Jmcat