Yes! and I got the photo to prove it!
- Curious about something you saw while walking in the woods? Spot the coolest bug ever? The prettiest flower and butterfly? Stumble on a rock and found a fossil? Or was it? This is the place to show your discoveries and share in the knowledge of the natural world right outside our doors. Join in the fun everyday at The Daily Bucket.
Last Days of June 2014
Dragonflies - their order in the insect world is Odonata. I've read that a dozen times the last couple days so I should remember that. O do na ta - simple enough to pronounce, a 3 y/o could say it. And like any kid, I was on the hunt for answers about "Do Dragonflies eat each other?" It gets asked often.
This photo was posted in the comments the other day, but for those who didn't see it
- yup, they do.
Big eaters:
As adults, dragonflies feed on other live insects. They aren't picky eaters. They'll eat any insect they can catch, including other dragonflies. Midges and mosquitoes make up the bulk of their diet, but dragonflies will also prey on flies, bees, beetles, moths, butterflies, and other flying insects. The larger the dragonfly, the larger the prey insect it can consume. A dragonfly will eat roughly 15% of its own body weight in prey each day, and larger species can easily consume much more than that.
another angle:
Here's the basic types of dragonflies; great photos and solid info in the bottom scroll panel. It's not likely I'll ever learn but a few of the 400, and increasing, species.
… a changing climate means that some southern species will continue to migrate north to the United States.
10 Surprisingly Brutal Facts About Dragonflies
Despite the come-on title, this guy covers some interesting research about flight, eating, catching, eating, sex, more eating.
... dragonflies calculate three things during a hunt: the distance of their prey, the direction it’s moving, and the speed it’s flying. In the space of milliseconds, the dragonfly calculates its angle of approach and, like a horror movie monster, it’s already waiting while the hapless fly stumbles right into its clutches.
Worst source I found on the web -
The Orkin Man with this insightful factoid.
Signs of a Dragonfly Infestation
Dragonflies do not infest indoors and therefore would not have any signs of infestation.
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Come along now you darn Lubber you. Drag your slow-moving butt over the fold. We're gonna show off your pretty colors.
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Lubbers
Bet ya didn't know entomology included etymology.
From the learned souls at the University of Florida.
The “lubber” designation is interesting because it aptly describes this grasshopper. “Lubber” is derived from an old English word “lobre” which means lazy or clumsy. This term has come to mean a big, clumsy, and stupid person, also known as a lout or lummox. In modern times, it is normally used only by seafarers, who term novices “landlubbers”.
Side view. Those are some big lichens on the small turkey oak. These oaks have thick, rough bark to survive fires. Also sprout back quickly from roots. Previous buckets about
lichens.
So I found this 2" Lubber out at Spring Canyon climbing up a small turkey oak right by our resting spot under a few large sand pines we had not cut down yet. Ms. Helen pointed out that the Lubber will be changing its color and becoming lighter. The yellow stripe down the back is standard.
LUBBER GRASSHOPPERS: Biology and Mysteries
Unlike butterflies, grasshoppers have a gradual metamorphosis with gradual increase in size and little change in shape from smallest nymph to winged adult. ... The immatures are all black with a yellow or red racing stripe and the adults are a variegated mix of orange, brown, black, and green. ... Each is a conspicuous color that advertises that the lubber is poisonous.
A last mystery of the lubber is that they are generalist feeders and not all the plants they eat have obvious toxins that the lubber can tolerate and use for its defense. ... In a study on Everglades lubbers, all adults were rejected as prey by 27 different native species of birds, mammals, frogs, and lizards. Often the predator vomited after trying to eat a lubber and then would never try again. On the other hand some non-native species, including marine toads and fire ants, do eat lubbers.
I can picture a nest of fireants swarming this cautious, non-flying, only moving one leg at a time Lubber.
Closeup, it's not showing in the photo but it looked like dots of blue along the side.
Recent bucket on Lubbers
Previous bucket on Horse Lubbers
Previous bucket on another Dead Dragonfly
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Bonus photos of Spring Canyon Longleaf pine restoration.
I climbed up in a big Sparkleberry to get a better angle on the ground below the pines. Scattered around are Turkey and Post Oaks but only if they are not too close to pines or twisted or leaning. We are picky about the keepers. Understory trees include Hawthorne, Dogwood, Plum, and Serviceberry. This is the edge of the sandhill where it slopes down towards the creek.
Those saplings on the ground I chopped with my 4-ft brush blade on the first pass thru. That and loppers to cut back vines and branches. After that was many many days with the battery chainsaw for the larger trees. Finally I moved up to a gas chainsaw and dropped three 12" sand pines in the area you see here. That's Helen in blue off to the right. Behind her is what this section used to look like.
I was slow getting started on a bucket this morning but there ya go. Keep talking and ya get to the end and then it's thank you all for reading this far. Best part is down below with your comments and observations.
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