Pulling cobwebs from dragonfly wings

Photo by Aka 

I had a strange experience the other night. I noticed a dragonfly on my front porch that was struggling to get to its feet so I grabbed some cling wrap and wrapped it loosely so I could pick it up and take a better look. I could see its feet were wrapped in cobwebs so I made a hole in the plastic and carefully removed the web until its feet were free. I unwrapped it from the plastic and (you’d think that would be the end of this story and the dragonfly would fly away, etc… but not so) something odd happened.

Once the legs were free it flew awkwardly at my face, so I put my hand up and it landed on my hand with its wings shivering.  That’s when I noticed its wings were also covered in webs. I gently pinched the end of one web hanging from its wing and began to pull. The dragonfly stuck tight to my hand and shook only that wing as I pulled harder to remove the web.  Once that was clear I started on the other wings until all four were clear of webs. This entire time the dragonfly clung tight to my skin and only shook the wing I was working on at the time to help rid itself of every speck of web.  This process took about twenty minutes. When I’d finished, it tested each wing and then flapped them all at once. It then sat there for a moment looking at me before flying off into the night.

I know I tell you that I love animals and they seem to be attracted to me (I wish the snakes weren’t), but this experience took things to a whole new level and gave me a feeling I’ve never had before.  My hubby and my neighbour were watching all this so intently that neither of them thought to film it! Hubby said, “I knew you were Snow White, but this is ridiculous.”

 I had the distinct impression that this dragonfly knew I was helping it.
But it’s an insect – how could it possibly know?

Have you ever experienced a strange animal or insect look at you as if they understand what you’re doing – or am I just turning into a crazy dragonfly lady? 😀