Yesterday in the warm afternoon sun at Lake 22 in Snohomish County I observed a dragonfly splash bath. I was very surprised by what I saw. I do not know what kind of dragonfly it was. It hit the water four times, along a circular course, each hit about six feet apart, separated by some two or three seconds. Between hits the dragonfly rose back into the air no more than a foot or two. When I saw the first hit I thought it was feeding on something on the water surface, but after the fourth and final hit on the water, the dragonfly flew upwards to a height of about ten feet or so, then performed a shaking maneuver in which it cast off a fine spray of water droplets, easily seen from my vantage because the sun was backlighting the scene. The dragonfly fell back toward the water slightly in the moment it was shaking off, then flew off normally. This event only happened once during my 30 minute observation of the lake. The mid air shaking off of water was very similar to what osprey do after they have been in the water. I've seen swallows splash bathing , but never before have I ever seen a dragonfly do this.

Has anyone else ever observed a dragon fly splash bath ? such behavior noted in the literature ? or am I mistaken in my interpretation of what I observed ?

Stan Kostka
lynnandstan at earthlink.net
Arlington