The Daily Life of a Dragonfly

This week’s blog was written by Jocelyn G., a Drummers alumni. She shares some interesting facts about dragonflies.

I have always wondered about dragonflies and decided to find out some more about them and learn about conservation efforts for them. They have always been one of my favorite creatures.

Dragonflies start off in little eggs usually laid in water or on plants. They then grow to tiny nymphs and then into adults. This all happens over a span of 6 months to a year, this is their average lifespan. Once they are fully grown they can be very colorful. Their bodies can be a blue green color or a yellow red color, Their wings can also be colored as well usually having a yellow tint. Their wings can move very fast with between 50 to 90 beats per minute.

Here is a picture of where I once found a dragonfly this is a
good example of the type of area you will find the dragonflies.

These interesting insects have a carnivorous diet. They eat things like mosquitoes, flies, bees, and butterflies. In general they eat other small insects that they can catch due to their excellent ability to maneuver and out fly their prey.

This is a dragonfly I found in the forest when hiking.

Because of their diet dragonflies tend to live around wet forest areas, by streams and ponds. There has been a decline in dragonfly population over the years because of the decrease in forests being wiped out for agricultural purposes. So if you would like to see some more dragonflies around and would like to help with the conservation of dragonflies there is a very easy way to help. If you have a garden or an extra space in your yard you could make a small garden pond to attract insects and other small creatures that live in ponds or lakes. Then maybe you would see more dragonflies around. A very simple and easy project to try out. I know I will!

The photos used in the blog belong to the author.