Tuesday, March 15, 2011

windy ramblings

The weather here in Colleyville has been up and down the past week.  For me this has been discouraging as I cannot go outside when the temperature drops below 60 degrees Farenheit due to a rare congenital condition called Fuckcoldweather.  I am not sure if the vast temperature fluctuations are confusing our little dragonfly buddies about when to emerge, but I do know that another component of weather, wind, could be doing us all harm.

As stated in a previous blog entry, after a dragonfly emerges and its wings harden, it becomes a juvenile.  These juveniles are not very strong fliers and often if you walk by a pond and startle one it may fly off before it really feels comfortable.  An unsuccessful first flight for a dragonfly can do tremendous damage to its self-esteem.  Doing something for the first time and feeling so awkward is something I am intimately familiar with so I can relate totally--how humiliating is it when you come out of the water for the first time, look around and puff up your wings, only to be scared by an approaching giant.  What do you do??  Think fast--use those new wing things!!  Bzz...bzzz.  But, your wings don't even make sounds, that was just for emphasis, to make it seem like flying.  Before you even know what your body is doing you are in the air, basically hang-gliding; you take off, get a little air and then go in the general direction of the wind and hope for a safe landing.  What a welcome to the terrestrial and aerial world....

Wednesday, March 2, 2011

ecstatic beginnings

The time has come here in Northeast Tarrant County!!  As mentioned in my previous two postings (which in extreme excitement I sent from my phone), specific Zygopterans and Epithecans have taken to the air at the Colleyville Nature Center.

I began my walk this morning with hopes of seeing some dragonflies but I made sure not to get too excited, as my fragile personality easily becomes fragmented.  Walking by sections of the park I recalled years past and dragonflies the dragonflies of yore...could today be the day??  ...No, Brian, calm down, be patient.  I say this to myself a lot.  So I kept sauntering along, enjoying the sights of many other insects that I haven't seen in a while.  I saw a six-spotted tiger beetle (species Cincindela sexguttata) along my way to the pond's edge, as well as some butterflies or moths (who cares...order Lepidoptera) and midges (suborder Nemotocera).  The midges got me excited--midges are aquatic insects just like dragonflies.  In fact, midges often fall prey to the mandibles of our beloved dragonflies.  If only...

I think you can tell where this is headed.  If not, you're retarded, because I already told you in the first paragraph.