Dragonflies and damselflies are fascinating insects.
That is what drew Sandy Kerr to capture the pictured one Saturday, Aug. 22, at Esterhazy Golf Course during the Big Brothers Big Sisters Golf Tournament.
Dave Halstead an instructor of Natural Resource Technology with SIAST was eager to tell the storyof dragonflies 聽at the Yellowhead Flyway Birding Trail Association Conference held in Saltcoats back in April 2016.
鈥淭hey鈥檙e extremely unique insects. There鈥檚 nothing like them in the world,鈥� he said in a Yorkton This Week article at the time.
Halstead told those attending the main focus of his presentation was to enhance the appreciation of dragonflies. He added if he can get people to take out a net and binoculars to study the insects 鈥淚鈥檝e accomplished something altogether more fantastic.鈥�
In Halstead鈥檚 own case dragonflies have become a life-long curiosity. It began in his early years as an aquatic biologist.
鈥淏ugs tell us a story about the health of lakes and streams,鈥� he said.
Halstead explained the larva of many insects, dragonflies included, 鈥渓ive on the bottom of lakes and streams,鈥� and can be impacted by dirty water, low oxygen content and similar water issues.
In 1990 Halstead began studying adult dragonflies.
In general dragonflies 鈥渁re very robust,鈥� he said, adding they are large among insects and have four wings, the front pair differing in size from the back.
In the case of dragonflies the 鈥渨ings are stretched out to the side (when perched). They can鈥檛 fold them. It鈥檚 a very primitive characteristic,鈥� said Halstead.
Dragonflies and damselflies have actually changed little since arriving on the scene some 300 million years ago 鈥渁bout 100 million years before even the dinosaurs showed up,鈥� said Halstead.
鈥淎nd they haven鈥檛 changed very much from that original protocol.鈥�
There are about 70 species of dragonflies and damselflies in Saskatchewan, 40 in the Saltcoats area, said Halstead.
A local example is the boreal white face.
鈥淩eally it鈥檚 a Western Canadian species,鈥� said Halstead. 鈥淚t鈥檚 common about this time of year. It starts coming out in May and June 鈥� You won鈥檛 see it after June.鈥�
You can find the .
You can also learn more about dragonflies at https://esask.uregina.ca/entry/dragonflies.jsp
Gordon Hutching writes on the Uof R sites, "Dragonflies are among Saskatchewan's most beautiful insects. Since they fly only during daylight times, the sun accentuates the colours of their bodies and their beautifully patterned wings when they hover or fly. Saskatchewan has a variety of aquatic environments ranging from alkaline lakes, sloughs and rivers, to acidic boreal bogs, fens and ponds. While large in extent, the range of wetlands in Saskatchewan is relatively low in diversity; therefore the species diversity of Dragonflies is also low: the province has sixty-eight species of Odonata-twenty-two species of Damselflies and forty-six species of Dragonflies-as compared to approximately 650 species for the rest of North America. However, in this large area of wetlands, Saskatchewan's low diversity is countered by the sheer volume of dragonflies on the wing.鈥�
