The Birth of a Dragonfly (photo special)

Our garden pond has been hiding secrets for the past year; secrets in the form of larvae of the common darter dragonfly. The larvae develop for about a year before emerging, lurking deep in the murkiness of the pond. For the past couple of days I've noticed them crawling to the fringes of the pond, and this morning two more were making the journey. To help them I placed a couple of sticks at the edge of the pond. They took the hint. The photos that follow show some highlights from a much longer sequence, which also includes video (yet to be edited). The sequence shown lasted about 40 minutes. It was another hour or so before it took its first flight.
Ascending the stick

Breaking out

The pale 'arm' you can see is the tightly packed wings

Watching them I wondered how they would get themselves the right way up. This clip shows how. It's an extract from the much longer sequence I filmed, but that will take me time to edit. It shows the second of the two dragonflies I was watching.

Back to the main subject, now the right way up.
The wings have extended, but are still milky.

15 minutes later

This last shot is one of the other emerging darters (it was resting before its first flight). Just my way of signing off! I'll try to sort the full video out over the next week (it will take a while, a lot to edit).

Nature Blog Network
Camera note: all shots and video clip taken with the Canon 7D and EF 100mm f/2.8L macro IS USM lens.

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This Post Has 16 Comments

  1. gdare

    4 Jul 2011

    Great sequence!!!

  2. wellisteffi

    4 Jul 2011

    Wonderful interesting pictures.

  3. SittingFox

    4 Jul 2011

    Wow! That is truly an awesome sequence. A miracle of the wild world in progress!

  4. Mickeyjoe-Irl

    4 Jul 2011

    Can't wait for the video. :up:

  5. derspecht

    5 Jul 2011

    :eyes: wow! :yes:

  6. garyftruman

    6 Jul 2011

    this is exelent,dragonflys are magik,great shots

  7. Words

    6 Jul 2011

    Mick, patience! I'll get the video sorted over the weekend. It's nearly done, but will take an age to upload.

  8. Words

    6 Jul 2011

    Erwin, thanks!

  9. Words

    6 Jul 2011

    Darko, thanks! I was very pleased to witness the whole process.

  10. Words

    6 Jul 2011

    Gary, thanks!

  11. Words

    6 Jul 2011

    Steffi, thanks! It was fascinating to watch.

  12. Words

    6 Jul 2011

    Swen, thanks!

  13. Words

    6 Jul 2011

    Adele, definitely up high on the list of interesting sightings. It's something I've wanted to see for a long time and it was so convenient as well 🙂

  14. Cynthia23

    16 Jul 2011

    Woe! Amazing shots, Words!!

  15. Words

    17 Jul 2011

    Cynthia, thanks!

  16. Wulpen

    19 Oct 2012

    Very Nice Photos

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