Morning Walks and Mating Habits of the Green Darner

It’s good that I like walking in the morning.  Florida is hot and very humid right now. Morning is really the only part of the day when walking is possible. All types of flowers are blooming.

I love the big osprey nests at the top of the dead trees.

This is a crawfish (or crawdad). The fun part was when I was returning on the path, I didn’t see him in the grass.  As I stepped over him, he lifted his claws way up to grab me or perhaps warn me.  I screamed!

A heron on the beach.  He was a gentleman and stepped back from the water so I could pass for my walk (no, I don’t really know if the bird is male).

Speaking of males, it must be mating season for the Green Darner (or just plain big dragonflies).  As I walked I noticed dragonflies flying alone.  Then I noticed many twosomes flying along either head to toe (John says it looks like they are sniffing their butts) or flying with one above and below and offset so their wings don’t hit.  Then I notice couples curled around each other. This pair was stopped in a bush, but somehow they can fly this way too.  Seems pretty dangerous! You have to look close in this picture to see the two sets of wings and a blue and a green dragonfly. The bizarre thing is that I didn’t notice this behavior any other day during our 11 day stay.  Is this a one-day only thing?  Or several times a year?