Here be DRAGONS!
That morning I got in my kayak and began paddling down the DuPage River with my family specifically looking for dragonflies. They are big, colorful, usually in pairs, and frequently land on algae or other plants floating in the river... and they're just COOL looking! Seriously - little (actually, not so little) flying DRAGONS! As it happened, I made it all the way through my planned 3 mile journey with not a single shot of a dragonfly. As we reached the launch and my wife and son were getting out of their kayaks I heard one of them 'pssssst' to get my attention, point off into the swampy area on the far side of the river, and whisper 'egret' to me. As I was still in my kayak, I immediately used my paddle to push off the shore as quietly as I could to send myself floating in the general direction while hoping to avoid paddling and scaring it off. The egret was much more alert than I had anticipated. I decided to just sit quietly and let the kayak...