In The Air

Earlier today I saw the slowest-flying dragonfly I've ever seen here in Baltimore, moseying across Pulaski about two storeys up (come to think of it, I've seen slower-moving dragonflies at Pennsic), ... right up until a swift overtook it from behind and swooped in to snatch it up. At that point the dragonfly started moving at a speed more like what I associate with dragonflies, zipped eight inches down and to the right, and the swift swept by. Then the dragonfly resumed its lazy meander.

I'd wondered about the dragonfly (at least I think it's the same one) that I see crossing Lombard in the mornings and returning in the evenings -- I thought it odd that it had a set route right through an area so heavily populated by birds that hunt on the wing. I guess dragonflies are just really, really good at dodge-bird?

I giggle a little each time I see a swift tip over and dive in a way that looks like a cartoon fighter aircraft being shot down. I don't know how often they catch what they're diving for, but the effort entertains me.

OTOH, if I'm watching through a long lens instead of bare-eyed, those sudden direction changes are what make swifts so bloody difficult to photograph. *Poof!* Right out of the frame so quickly that I'm not even sure which direction they went.

Oddly, just after I saw the slow-moving dragonfly, I noticed two helicopters hovering over south Baltimore, a few blocks apart. (They must have been television choppers, 'cause I almost never see a police bird hover. But they were too far away to see the paint jobs or logos, and I didn't have a long enough lens with me to make up for the distance.)