Watching the Dance

Day 201
The Daily DuBrule

Yesterday when I came home from work in the late afternoon I glanced out my kitchen window to an amazing display. The afternoon light made the thousands of tiny insects that had just hatched out glisten. I don't know what they were but there were tons of them. If I went outside and looked up I wouldn't have seen them. The angle of the light was critical to see what was going on. Immediately my eye was caught by the swooping and darting about of lots of dragonflies. They were eating these insects in mid-air! I went out on the deck and there were dragonflies everywhere- in the courtyard, above the vegetable garden, and in the side yard. I just observed in amazement.

Some evenings after I have finished puttering around my vegetable garden I sit on the log that forms the boundary between the garden and the lawn. Often I see swallows doing the same swooping dance. They too are scooping up mosquitoes and other insects. They open their beaks wide and vacuum them up. If I wait long enough and watch the sun dip below the horizon, the bats come out. They are the next team that is on mosquito patrol in my yard.

You can read all about these three groups of insect eaters and find all sorts of statistics about how many thousands of mosquitoes they eat in a day. It doesn't matter to me. All I know is that they are a vital part of my ecosystem and I truly enjoy their dances high in the sky. I could sit and watch them for hours.