Comment by sparrish 5 days ago
Dragonflies are freakin' awesome. By far my favorite insect.
Not only are they incredible acrobats but they can eat up to a hundred mosquitos (my least favorite insect) per day with a hunting success rate of 95%.
Their larvae are also pretty brutal predators and they also feed on mosquito larvae. Here's a YT vid showing how they hunt: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EHo_9wnnUTE
Damselflies deserve a bit of attention too.
Random video https://youtube.com/shorts/-ALXaGRl_g8
Bat houses can take 5 years before bats will decide to live in them - they won't just settle in some strange box because they found it. This lag time makes it very difficult to determine if the bats will like your box, but just need more time - or if there is some aspect about the placement or location of the box that means they will never take up residence in it.
The Internet is your friend. See eg https://www.reddit.com/r/dragonfly/comments/10z03h6/how_to_a...
“Nonsense . We have a pond barrell with pond plants in and occasional fountain and we have attacted the dragonflies the size of your hand. Dragonflies love pomd plants becsuse it's where they lay their eggs. Line an old whiskey barrell, fill I'm holes with filler, add rocks, plants and water and they will find it ”
“I have lady palms and there are tons of dragonflies that live in them. When I walk by I have 10-15 fly out at any time, babies and adults. I don’t have a water feature but live in Florida where it’s always pretty humid this time of year.”
“ I'm in the Austin area, and have had great success with a very small water feature made from a 90 quart (about 18 gallons) Sterlite storage bin. I dug a hole deep enough to bury it flush to the ground, filled it with large rocks and water. I bought a plant with a tall stalk. Within 2 weeks a great big red dragonfly had claimed the spot as his. I've have them back every year since. Posted a pic DIY back yard dragonfly pool”
We had a small garden pool at the summer cottage, emptied every winter. Pretty soon after filling it was full of mosquito larvae. Didn't see any dragonfly larvae, I assume the eggs only hatch in the spring so the emptying makes it impossible for their life cycle.
We caught some fish and put them in there. They quickly ate the mosquito larvae. In the fall the pool was emptied and the fish released back to the lake.
The ancestors of dragonflies and damselflies have been the first insects that have evolved to fly well, not just to fly.
The other insects that are good fliers, e.g. flies, wasps, bees, certain moths, have evolved towards better flying in a completely different way from dragonflies, and many tens of millions of years later.
The ancestors of dragonflies have developed special muscles that can move separately and accurately each of the 4 wings, allowing exquisite flight control.
All the other good fliers among insects use only the equivalent of two wings, either by reducing one pair of wings, like in flies, or by having a mechanical linkage between the front and back wings, which makes them act like a single pair of wings, like in wasps, bees and fast-flying moths.
Moreover, the other good fliers among insects, unlike dragonflies, do not move directly the wings, but their flying muscles are attached to the thorax and contract it for moving the wings. A system of levers transmits the movement of the thorax to the wings. This also allows the wings to beat at a higher frequency than the frequency at which the nervous system can command the muscular contractions.