The people who know me know that when I go fishing, I catch a fish, photograph it, then throw it back into the water. I use the photographs to make greeting cards for the widows in my church. There are a lot of different kinds of fishermen. Most fishermen take their fish home, clean them, fry them and eat them.

Sometimes while fishing I get distracted by different things. One thing that always catches my attention are dragonflies. Some people call these insects, mosquito flies or mosquito hawks.

Dragonflies have been around as far back as the dinosaurs. They are usually found at places where water exists such as lakes, ponds, creeks, swamps and bayous. Along with butterflies, dragonflies are the most seen insects.

Dragonflies eat a large variety of insects including crickets, mosquitoes, beetles, worms and other flying insects. They don’t bite or sting humans. Yay! They don’t hesitate to tackle many insects that are twice their size. The reason that people don’t notice dragonflies is because most of them have clear wings. The only color some of them have is on their slender body.

Dragonflies are favorite insects for people who make crafts using wood, glass and other items.

My nickname for dragonflies is “God’s Angels That You Can See.”

(Narrative and photo provided by Jena native Gale Trussell)