Avian dragonfly collectors (Anisoptera)

July 1998 I noticed our purple martins, Progne s. subis, feeding large dragonflies to their almost fully-grown fledglings. Because most of the food was dragonflies, I decided to photograph the activity. I placed the camera and electronic flashes on a tripod which I had modified to reach a height of 12 feet, then lowered the martin house to that level. Then I photographed by remote control while watching through binoculars. From the color slides, several large dragonflies could be identified. There were three Anax Junius, one Macromia annulata, and another which appeared to be Anax, but certainly was not A. Junius, I sent copies to Dr Sidney W. Dunkle for identification. In a letter, Dunkle stated that it was Anax amazili, one of the rarest dragonflies in North America. I never had seen this species, so the purple martins were better collectors than I! Unfortunately, they quickly destroyed their specimen!