Dragonfly

On a bright sunny afternoon this past summer there was something sitting on the clothesline in our back yard. I took my video camera and zoomed in
from the deck... it was a dragonfly! One of the best small flying things out there.

Surprisingly a dragonfly doesn't have a proper name in Punjabi. In the dictionary it just says 'ਇੱਕ ਤਰ੍ਹਾਂ ਦੀ ਮੱਖੀ' (a kind of fly) But you'd see these things in Punjab all the time. I remember they call it a helicopter, because of the way it flies.

Now that I think about it: was the helicopter another nature inspired invention? The flight mechanism appears pretty similar in both and the basic structure looks alike.

More information here. Never knew this: Dragonflies are the world's fastest insects, capable of reaching speeds of up to 60 mph. The Common Green Darner dragonfly (Anax junius) is nicknamed "Darning Needle" because of its body shape. It is one of the biggest and fastest-flying dragonflies, able to reach speeds of 85 km/h (53 mph).