Watching Insects

Common Whitetails (Libellula lydia)
May 5, 2007

I spent most of the day at a pond in a small prairie. The 7 male Common Whitetails at the pond were frequently engaging in chases, and at one point the chasing seemed to intensify and I could hear them actually making contact with each other in flight. A quick search confirmed my guess as to what caused the commotion – the 7 males at the pond had been joined by a single female.

I also saw a frog capture and eat a small black spider while I was increasing my tolerance for frogs at the pond – it is inundated with small frogs and tadpoles. I guess I just wanted to look at the insects more than I wanted to get away from the frogs. A friend insists that most people like frogs. They’re fine, as long as they aren’t too close, but today I managed to remain sitting with one only 2 or 3 inches from me. It was worth it while I watched several species of water beetle and took this photo of the first backswimmer I saw in 2007.