This dragonfly had crawled out of his chrysalis early Monday morning. He was hanging from his now empty vessel, drying his wings and pumping blood through his expanding body. It was a sight I had never imagined seeing.
When I first saw him, I thought he was dead because he was not moving. I thought perhaps a spider had gotten him and left him hanging there on some webbing to come back for later. Then I considered that he might be eating that thing he was attached to so I gently touched his wing, having never seen one still enough to approach. When the tip of my finger met his wing edge, he shuddered but did not fly. I realized that he was not only not dead, but indeed, newly alive! What i thought was webbing or a meal on closer inspection turned out to be his chrysalis. I could see the hole in the front where he had crawled out. The chrysalis was so small that I had a hard time imagining him ever being in there but you can see his face impression left in it. It looked like a cricket!
I wondered why I had never seen any nymph dragonflies so I looked it up and they are in water most of their lives. The mated dragonfly female puts eggs on plants in the water or drops them straight in. They live there for up to 4 years. This one could have been in my pond that long or brought in with plants! Then, when the weather warms up and they are mature, the nymphs crawl up onto a stem, harden and hatch. The adult dragonfly will immediately look for a mate, mate and lay eggs. They only live about 2 months once hatched.
As you can see by Itzl's concerned look, this group is for us to check in at to let people know we are alive, doing OK, and not affected by such things as heat, blizzards, floods, wild fires, hurricanes, tornadoes, power outages, or other such things that could keep us off DKos. It's also so we can find other Kossacks nearby for in-person checks when other methods of communication fail - a buddy system. Members come here to check in. If you're not here, or anywhere else on DKos, and there are adverse conditions in your area (floods, heatwaves, hurricanes, etc.), we and your buddy are going to check up on you. If you are going to be away from your computer for a day or a week, let us know here. We care! IAN is a great group to join, and a good place to learn to write diaries. Drop one of us a PM to be added to the Itzl Alert Network anytime! We all share the publishing duties, and we welcome everyone who reads IAN to write diaries for the group! Every member is an editor, so anyone can take a turn when they have something to say, photos and music to share, a cause to promote or news!Monday
Crimson Quillfeather alternate with
Tuesday ejoanna
Wednesday Caedy
Thursday art ah zen
Friday FloridaSNMOM
Saturday Alexandra Lynch
Sunday loggersbrat
This is your nature lesson for the day. I hope this one finds a mate close by and seeds my pond with eggs that the fish don't find. The circle goes round and round.
Update: Here is a photo taken an 3 and a half after hours the first one. You can see his wings are much flatter this time. I must have caught him soon after he emerged because his wings were still very curled from his previously cramped living quarters. I have been watching to make sure the birds don’t see him before he is ready to fly but I don’t know yet how long it will take for him. It is cool and overcast still this morning; maybe he is waiting for the sun.
Well, by 1pm, the sun had been out for a while and when i checked, he had flown away. Please excuse the mingled time tenses here, I am writing this in real time Monday, but it will be posted on Wednesday night so I confused myself with present and past tenses but you get the idea.