Summer Of The Giant Dragonfly!

When I was a child I lived in Winnipeg, Manitoba with my parents and younger sister.We had just moved to a new town-house development just outside of the city,in the summer of 1975. I was a very bright 6 1/2 year old boy,so my parents took notice of this, and bought me a telescope and microscope set.I used the microscope just about everyday, observing various plants and insects.

On this one hot summer day I was walking around my neighborhood searching for specimens ,when all of a sudden I heard this loud buzzing sound,and this dark shadow passed over me.I looked up and what I saw was a giant dragonfly about five feet above my head.The wingspan must have been 18 to 24 inches wide.

On another occasion ,my aunt was watching my sister and I ,while we were playing in our swimming pool in the backyard. The swimming pool was round with aluminum siding.Once again I heard this loud buzzing sound, and the dragonfly landed on the edge of our swimming pool.My aunt was terrified, and screamed.My sister seemd to be in shock.But I was fascinated with childhood wonder.

I saw that dragonfly many times during that summer, and to this day it is one of the most incredible things I have seen in my life.I have done some research, and have found out that the largest dragonfly today, has a wingspan of 7 1/2 inches wide. While prehistoric dragonflies had a wingspan of 2 1/2 feet wide.Which seems closer to the size of the dragonfly that I had witnessed.

I was wondering if any of you have ever seen anything like this.Thanks for reading.Peace.

Largest dragonfly I've seen had a wingspan of probably about 4 or 5 inches.

I love dragonflies, they're one of the beautiful bugs, they don't bite, when they land on people they look like they're studying us. Out here, I've seen blue, red, and copper coloured ones.

Imagine how many mosquitoes a really large dragonfly eats

I wish there was more of them

I remember going back to my Grade school a few years ago and man those desks are so freakishly tiny how did I ever sit in them? I also remember the school being much larger...

every early summer around here there are a couple of days when dragonflies(just plain brown ones) swarm in the backyard by the hundreds mating , it's so beautiful it looks like a horde of fairies

reply to post by abeverage


Star for pointing out the obvious.
Everything you see as a kid seems bigger than it is, plus memory isn't perfect and colours shapes and sizes can change over the years.

Originally posted by Chukkles
reply to post by abeverage

 

Star for pointing out the obvious.
Everything you see as a kid seems bigger than it is, plus memory isn't perfect and colours shapes and sizes can change over the years.

Summer lasts for ever and Christmas seems always a long time off.