Holy cow it's huge! Are those 50gal drums? What an incredible amount of work went into that dragonfly! Yep, there lives a welder with a desire to create! I LOVE the bird. I've been trying to figure out what is that background behind the painted dragonflies? Is it spray paint on a glass door (they used the mesh of the wings for a stencil) or is it a pattern on paper? I cant figure out if I can see through it or not. Interesting pics. Thanks for sharing.

I've seen alot here as well. I read in the local paper that the main reason is that last summer was wet and provided ideal breeding conditions for them. If that's the case, I'd expect the high numbers to continue, as there certainly has been enough water and mosquitoes this year as well. The city has deliberately released dragonflies in parks, trying for a more natural means of mosquito control. Every bit helps I guess. This morning I saw a frog hiding beside my pond, hopefully he'll eat a few mosquitos too. Actually I am still puzzled how a frog found my yard, it's not like I'm near a lake or river, or even a forest. Glen Glen

Hi! I'm hoping somebody else has seen these beauties... I was drinking coffee by the pond this morning, watching my fish eat breakfast, when a big purple dragonfly zoomed by. I didn't even know there was such a thing as a purple dragonfly! I took some pics and got online to try to ID it. Turns out its listed as a vulnerable species in its native Florida. So, what's it doing in Central Louisiana?!? There's more!... It flew around in circles at the perimeter of the pond, and then I saw it hitch up and mate with a yellow-brown dragonfly. I read on the internet that the female of this species is that color. I have green dragonflies, blue dragonflies, and now this purple one. I hope it stays. I'll try to link the pics I took this morning. Has anybody else outside of Florida seen this dragonfly? Here is a link that might be useful: Purple dragonfly pics

Happy to hear you have been keeping yourself busy, DBD! :0) Wish I had the time to stalk dragonflies with my camera. Busy, busy, busy.........