Dragonfly Down

 

While the wife and I were relaxing outside on the patio, this male green darner came crashing to the ground in front of us.  The first thing that was obvious about it was its missing tail or what is really known as the abdomen.  (Note that a portion of the abdomen left behind is violet in color- this indicates a juvenile male.)  I'm pretty sure I know what happened.  As I have stated before I have a purple martin colony and these birds love dragonflies (as do many other birds) and there was a few martins flying above us.   I'm thinking that possibly one of my martins had this dragonfly in its beak and it wriggled trying to free itself, which then severed its abdomen and sent it to the ground.