Saturday, June 14, 2008

Aerial Pest Control

That's the title of my latest nature article for Kaatskill Life magazine (section titled Learning about Kaatskill Kritters). My father and I have been writing for the magazine for many years, this article should come out in the fall issue. It's about dragonflies, and I created a treasury on etsy based upon it.

Here's a sneak preview:

It was an early summer morning and I had just finished picking myself some of our own blueberries for breakfast. A walk around the backyard brought an entourage of buzzing insects to my side, mosquitoes and horse flies, amid other unpleasant pests. After swatting a few away, I suddenly felt something crash into my head with a loud flutter of wings. Aghast, a large dragonfly alighted on my hand. Upon closer inspection I discovered it had a mosquito in its mouth. Happily perched on my hand, it munched away without taking notice of my fascination. I had always known dragonflies were very helpful creatures that eat all sorts of insects, but I had never seen one in action quite so close up.

I try to keep things interesting as well as informative and apparantly we have some loyal readers. So those of you in the Catskill region of NY, keep on the lookout for Kaatskill Life magazine, you'll surely find something by either me or my father (we do all our own photography as well).

4 comments:

TotusMel said...

Love the dragonflies! I had one land on my finger once too, what an unique sensation.

The Nature Nut said...

That's so cool! I've been wanting to make a dragonfly pond in our yard but haven't gotten around to it yet. I love dragonflies and I'm sure your article for the magazine will be great!

Patti said...

You make bugs sound so interesting!

Sam said...

How amazing for you! I love bugs too - my first grader has been studying them and we have hosted several in the bug catcher!
xx Sam