Friday, June 25, 2010
The dragonfly rescue
The TigerHawk Teenager made some excellent bacon and French toast this morning, complete with genuine maple syrup. We ate it for brunch on the front porch, enjoying the spectacular weather while it lasts (the forecast for tomorrow is dismal).
This time of year the dragonflies are out in force, having gorged on the black flies of May and June, very few of which remain to torment humans. One of these little angels of heaven landed on my plate and caught his wings and legs in the syrup pool.
We wanted to rescue the dude, but they are so fragile we worried about hurting him. After discussion, we settled on diluting the syrup with water from the lake. Sure enough, that loosened the sweet trap enough for us to gently flick the fellow on to the table...
Sadly, his two left wings were still stuck together...
...so we bathed him a second time...
...and that got him briefly airborne, just far enough to grab a perch on my ankle so that he could finish drying off.
This last picture came seconds before he delicately took wing for parts unknown, dragonflyish vim and vigor fully in evidence.
The most Christian Scientist thing I have done all day.
8 Comments:
By 
GreenmanTim, at
Fri Jun 25, 01:37:00 PM:
Proving once again that the roots of "conservative" and "conservationist" are one in the same.
By TigerHawk, at
Fri Jun 25, 01:47:00 PM:
Very generous of you, GT. But a liberal might well have gone to the same trouble. :)
By 
, at
Fri Jun 25, 02:58:00 PM:
"The enemy of my enemy is my friend" applies not only to politics, but also to ecosystems. May that dragonfly live to feast on more black flies!
As my times in the Adirondacks were mostly in August, I did not encounter many black flies.
By rcw, at
Fri Jun 25, 04:10:00 PM:
This may be my favorite TH post yet! You have a poet in you, gentle cousin.
By Bomber Girl, at
Fri Jun 25, 05:45:00 PM:
The liberal might have required diversity training of the dragonfly to explain to him that eating the flies weighed him down and got him stuck in the syrup. After the training, he could just then sit in the syrup and not worry about flight anymore. Problem solved.
By , at
Fri Jun 25, 06:20:00 PM:
" But a liberal might " Yes, they "might", after assessing the potential benefit to them, after suitible and laborious eviormental impact studies and societal cost analyses. After determination of and assessment of blame and penalty of creating a dangerous life enviorment for said dragonfly. Yes they might, maybe, perhaps, but, maybe not.
Meanwhile the conservative and his offspring, with little concern beyond " We wanted to rescue the dude " did. Did, and returned said waylayed slayer of the vexatious black fly to his natural habitat no worse for the wear. sarc\. Might and did, mighty different.
By , at
Fri Jun 25, 10:04:00 PM:
Just think, a couple hundred million years ago dragonflies like this one were very large. As in a wingspan of over two feet.
By JPMcT, at
Fri Jun 25, 10:19:00 PM:
TH, How dare you attampt to locally manage the syrup spill!!
This rescue obviously required the oversight and management of the Federal government, Coast Guard and EPA!!
Photos of the syrup-encrusted insect will now appear on the cover of Newsweek and broadcast on MSNBC as evidence of a conservative foul-up!!
Indeed, your reckless management of this crisis will lead to a Federally mandated Syrup-Moratorium covering the entire NorthEast US for the next six months!!
Good Lord...Doesn't this bring home the point that we need to be funding syrup alternatives!!??
