For the Love of Dragonflies

I was so relieved to see the first squadrons of long-awaited, iridescent-winged dragonflies descend upon our homestead two weeks ago. What a welcome sight.

This has been an unfortunately cool, wet summer so far, broken up by barely enough sunny afternoons to keep us Alaskans hoping for a few more.

Because of all the rain, alternating with just enough warm weather, there’s been plenty of damp, woodsy puddles, old discarded buckets, wheelbarrows, and drainage ditches holding stagnant water that would normally be long ago dried up.

Of course, this means the mosquitoes this year just kept hatching, long after they would normally be fading away. The pesky little buggers haven’t been quite as bad in our yard as some places, but only because we keep the entire area in front of our house mowed short.

I’ve even taken to parking Roada out in the middle of the yard to better keep the swarms away. Her normal parking spot is too close to the woods. 🦟

Still, the skeeters hover like tiny Draculas along the forested edges of our property – right where the dogs love to sniff and explore, and there’s enough of them to be irritating while we are outdoors.

Seriously, if you wanted to avoid mosquitoes this year, you needed to go to Seward’s waterfront or Homer Spit, where the sea breezes mostly keep them at bay.

Jerry and I took four days in Seward last week for our 26th anniversary, so I can tell you first-hand – not a mosquito in sight! Such relief!

Rhonda took full advantage of this warm, sunny day in Seward for sunbathing and napping in the grass. She was completely wet-noodled, out like a light in this shot. Happy dog!

We sat out by our campfires well into the cooler part of the evening, watching the fishing boats coming in for the night and then watching cruise ships departing for their next port of call. Bug-free. It was awesome.

Short of taking a summer-long vacation at the sea shore, your best bet this year has been to sit in the middle of an asphalt Home Depot parking lot. Mosquitoes don’t seem overly fond of flat, unadorned pavement. Or, of course, stay indoors. But hey, it’s summer in Alaska. You really can’t stay indoors.

Anyway, that brings me back to dragonflies. I’ve always loved these magical, sparkling, fairy-like winged creatures. But never more so than this year. I knew as soon as the first ones arrived that help was finally at hand.

We applauded the aerial acrobatics as we watched our shimmering winged warriors loop-de-loop, dart and swoop all over the yard. We shouted for sheer joy as what initially seemed like masses of dragonflies decorated the air above and around the RV, zooming over our porch and diving amongst the shrubbery at the edges of the yard. The mosquito massacre had finally begun.

The mosquito population was halved within days. Now, nearly two weeks later, while a small but delightful, colorful presence of ever-diligent dragonflies continue to patrol, and although we keep our zapper-rackets handy for the occasional whining home-intruder, the worst is over.

Thank you, my beautiful friends! I smile every time one of you zips past my window. I just missed getting a shot today of a glossy greenish-blue dragonfly clinging briefly to the window screen of the RV. Some insects truly are welcome in our yard. Dragonflies top my list.