Besides the seemingly ever more abundant population of snakes in the garden, my wife is most bothered by the small, but aggressive Tiger mosquitoes. I’m not nearly as troubled by them, though my wife is horrified, and constantly swatting them on my legs and back when we’re sitting together. I don’t know if I’ve become numb and immune to insect bites, or if I’m just too easily distracted to pay attention to these nasty little beasts.

Since I’m incapable of reporting on this, my wife confirms that the fewest of these pesky mosquitoes are in the neighborhood of the large koi pond, and it’s obvious to me that dragonflies are the reason. For whatever reason, the population of dragonflies has markedly increased this year. From a scattered few in most years, now there are dozens that zip across the pond, stopping only for a moment on a tall iris or cattail to survey their domain before speeding back across. Are they capturing mosquitoes in flight? I don’t know, but mosquitoes are a part of their diet, so this is my best guess.

In any case, I’m happy that there are fewer mosquitoes in the area of the garden where I spend the most time, and the colorful dragonflies are entertaining even if there was no other benefit to them.