How to attract dragonflies to your pond?

[Stephen T.]

I've been seeing a lot of dragon and damsel flies around our pond the last few weeks. There's almost always a couple or 3 flying around out there, I love it! However, something rather strange that my wife noticed. We have a greenhouse about 5' from the pond, with a large exhaust fan blowing through a screened window. The dragonflies keep bumping the screen or hovering in the breeze, but often whack into the screen like they're trying to fly into the fan! It doesn't hurt them and it's kind of fun to watch, but rather odd.

 

[Mike in Vermont]

After my wife and I got done mowing and trimming, about 40 adult dragonflies showed up between the pond and patio. They swarmed for a half hour nonstop. I think we stirred up a bunch of ants with wings. It was an incredible sight. It freaked the dog and hummingbirds out.

 

[texmaster]

This may be a silly question but I would like to attract dragonflies to my pond. My pond is a small one and it's about 4 months old now, haven't seen a dragonfly around here

Nothing silly about it. Dragonflies eat mosquitoes! woohoo!

 

[bluzervic]

I have large dragonflies flying in and out of the area, several different colors, but have not seen the little ones yet.
Also, a flycatcher (type of bird) perches on the rocks and flies back and forth across the pond eating bugs.
I also have several baby lizards eating the bugs as well.

Now if I can just find something to eat all these massive amounts of micro pond flies I will be golden

 

[Stephen T.]

I'm still getting lots of dragonflies, but I'm also finding one every few days, upside down and stuck in the water. I gently fish them out, most recover as soon as their wings dry out.

I did find the downside to attracting lots of birds, especially to my stream. It's certainly fun to watch and get some great photos, but... My lower pond often has 50 or more small feathers floating around!