Brunch:

Chomp, crunch, swallow; chomp, crunch, swallow; chomp, crunch, swallow, Plew-spit out a wing tip! Chomp, crunch, swallow; chomp, crunch, swallow; plew-spit out another wing tip. Chomp, crunch, swallow; chomp, crunch, swallow and one more swallow.

It was a sunny hot July day. The temperature was already rising to 95 degrees and it was only 11:00A.M. The humidity beginning to increase and thicken the air making breathing seem difficult. I was doing stone work on the end of the overflow stream that feeds Light Point Pond when I stopped to take a short break. Stomping the shovel into the ground I paused. Gazing over the pond I thought I need a drink of water. Just as I was about to move towards the wheelbarrow to get a drink a Comet Darner flew by and landed on the top of the shovel handle. Startled and a bit stunned I looked at it in awe and disbelief. In an instant I thought, “I’ve got to get the camera and take a picture of this, no one will ever believe me.” But I also knew any movement or sound louder than breathing would surely scare this magnificent creature away and dissolve this miraculous engagement instantly and permanently. I froze in my stance and watched from three feet away in silence and amazement.

Perched on top of the shovel handle, his personal table top, the darner began devouring a deer fly. Head first! The fly while being slightly smaller than the two-three inch darner was still more than a mouthful so to say! I wonder how he caught it? In flight by surprise no doubt. And does he know there is no nutrition in the wings? Spitting them out as if to say I don’t need the roughage? Consuming only the body cavity, delicately and matter-of-factly with a chomp, a crunch and a swallow. And then, all gone!