Thank you very much for visiting us today!
We hope you enjoy these slideshows featuring photos of our campers enjoying the many activities participants take part in at Camp Coley!
We hope you enjoy these slideshows featuring photos of our campers enjoying the many activities participants take part in at Camp Coley!
Damselflies and Dragonflies of Chicagoland
One of our most exciting presenters in 2013 was Marla Garrison, a faculty member at McHenry County College. When she’s not teaching in the classroom, Ms. Garrison works with the McHenry County Conservation District, surveying damselflies and dragonflies in an effort to supplement wetland quality management. She took all of our campers on an adventure around Veteran's Acres Lake in search of beautiful damselflies and dragonflies. She is the author of Damselflies of Chicagoland, A Photo Field Guide published online by the Field Museum of Natural History in Chicago as part of their Chicago Wilderness Series of Rapid Color Guides. Damselflies of Chicagoland can be accessed on the Field Museum website at: http://fm2.fieldmuseum.org/plantguides/damselflies.
Damselfly vs. Dragonfly
Unlike damselflies, dragonflies are well known to most people. They are large, strong-flying, insects that perch with their wings spread 90 degrees or more relative to their bodies and usually have eyes that fuse together on top of their heads. The smaller and more slender-bodied damselflies, on the other hand, perch with their wings folded over their backs (or, in the case of the spreadwings, at a 45 degree angle) and have widely spaced eyes. Dragonflies easily draw one’s attention, maneuvering over wetlands with great agility at or above eye level. Observing the much weaker flying damselflies flitting amongst the vegetation, or just above the water’s surface, re-quires one to lower the head, drop the eyes, squint and even kneel or squat. The reward is to peer into a diminutive world of surprising color and remarkable activity. -- Marla Garrison, Damselflies of Chicagoland