The Dragonfly and wings of light

dragonfly feeding swarm

Last night we invited friends over for dinner. It had been a very warm summer day and there had been  lots of mosquitoes and biting insects during the day.  Just as our guests arrived, I looked through the window and saw swarms of big black bugs swirling around Pixie's head. She did not seem to mind the bugs but just in case, I used the cow bell to call both dogs into the house. They are well trained to come in quickly once the bell is rung. I guess we should call it a dog bell at this point.

Upon going outside to investigate further, I saw that they were very large, black dragonflies.They were moving quickly and darting all over the place.
It seemed as if  there were hundreds in front of the house. The wing span was about 3-4 inches and the body at least that long.  Then after everyone said that they had never been this close to a swarm of dragonflies, we moved into the back yard where there was another swarm of them. They stayed for about 30 minutes and then completely disappeared. It was an amazing sight. Nat kindly photographed them in the disappearing sunlight by lying in the grass and looking up at them.  It was really a daunting thing to do with all of these fast moving insects.
Dragonflies signify light, transformation and illusion. You can think one thing is happening and it is really another.
Perhaps they are black saddle bag dragonflies.
photographs of black saddle bag dragonflies