About the Cover..
About the Cover…
Betsy Cross
I encountered this female Checkered Setwing along the North Forty Trail at Jacob’s Well Natural Area on June 11, 2023. She seemed to like having her picture taken, which made our encounter interesting and enjoyable. She circled around, allowed a few shots, took off again, made several orbits around the area, and came back for her close-up.
Checkered Setwings are in the Skimmer family of dragonflies and are common and widely distributed across the state of Texas. While this species generally prefers slow-flowing mid-sized streams and rivers in open areas with little canopy and are occasionally found at ponds, females are not that common around water and usually appear there ONLY to mate and lay eggs before leaving the water again. This explains why this female was present in a wooded habitat of mixed Ashe juniper and oak with a mostly covered canopy.
A Few More Dragonfly Facts
Similar to plumage differences in birds, male and female dragonflies of the same species can look quite different, including color differences. Color changes can also be associated with maturity. Eye color can be useful in identification too.
Within the insect world, dragonflies have the best eyesight, with nearly a 360-degree field of view.
They are the strongest fliers in the insect world. They can move each of their four wings independently. They can beat their wings an average of 35 times per second and can reach velocities of 30-35 mph.
Many male dragonflies have genitalia designed to scoop out another dragonfly’s sperm before depositing their own sperm into a female.
Dragonflies are one of the animal world’s deadliest predators, with a 96% kill rate. They will eat anything they can catch, including their own species.