Prairie Beauty

A few evenings ago, I visited the natural prairie that is a short distance from my house. I was pleasantly surprised to find several species of spring wildflowers blooming, as well as a lot of summer wildflower plants starting to grow. It will be some time before these summer flowers reach bloom stage, but it’s looking like it will be another great summer!

Towards the end of my hike around the prairie, I noticed this dragonfly resting on a spent coneflower stalk from last summer’s wildflowers (sorry, I haven’t had a chance to look up the identity of this one, but if anyone knows the identity, I’d appreciate the help):

 

Dragonfly from a Missouri prairie

 

 

While photographing this dragonfly, I noticed something that I have never observed before. The dragonfly’s abdomen was expanding and contracting, as it apparently breathed. I’m assuming this is normal, but just hadn’t noticed it previously! It was so different, I put my camera in the video mode and made this short video of this behavior. Have you ever noticed this phenomenon before? Here is a link to the video:   http://youtu.be/-4N4NEF5ocg

 

 

 

 

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