Blue Dancers

Blue damselflies should be on "Dancing with Stars."

Because, in many respects, they ARE the stars--the stars of the insect world.

They're slender, delicate and beautiful dancers that look like blue-stick diamonds.

Damselflies are often confused with dragonflies, which are in the same order, Odonata, but in a different suborder.  Both are predators.  Damselflies, however, hold their wings parallel to the body. They're usually smaller than dragonflies and don't move as fast.

But if you stalk them, they're leery. If you shadow them, these needlelike insects vanish in a flash of blue.

Fossil records show that dragonflies and damselflies lived on earth 300 million years ago. Ancient insects, indeed.

The best time to photograph damselflies is in the early morning when they're warming their flight muscles. Sometimes they'll perch motionless on a plant as if they're posing.

Poet-playwright William Butler Yeats (1865-1939) asked "How can we know the dancer from the dance?"

We can't.