AZJoe

Dragonflies and Damselflies seem not of this world, more like creatures of mythical fantasy.

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Damselfly interaction

Is this a rescue, or a common reproductive act? My perception is that it was a rescue, while the good people over at bugguide.net disagree. They seem certain that it is that sexual thing, called ovipositing.

I don't even known if such a rescue action is known to happen at all, or if it is an uncommon or rare occurrence.

Fun. I am learning with each step...

 
Click on the photos for larger versions.

Here is the video of the encounter.

In the beginning, the victim looks to be drowning. Though there are no other drowned damsels in this scene, there were quite a few in the area.

At 27 and 36 seconds into the video, the hero pulls very hard, seemingly in effort to break the victim free.

This was the largest congregation of damsels that I have ever seen. There were thousands and thousands, and they seemed to cover most of Watson Lake, as well as the shoreline, and in the nearby land. I don't know how unusual that is, but it sure was a beautiful thing to see. Almost all of them had the same blue coloring. It was that way during two visits, about 3 weeks apart.

Here the hero is resting, standing still, in the upright position. That must me some kind of hold he has.

 

Here the hero's feet are resting on the water, pushing the water down. He is also pushing her down,  I think to get a better grip before a strong pull. It is cool how their bodies 'dent' the water.

Here is the photo that reinforces my belief that this is a rescue. If it is a sexual thing going on between the female (in the water dent) and the male (the one pushing her down), then why is another damsel mounting the male? It looked to me like he(?) was assisting the other rescue worker, trying to add pull to the efforts.

This could only work in damsels and dragons. They are the only creatures that I know of that seem to able to fly as well when they are 'hooking-up' as when they are flying solo. This demonstrates to me that additional help could be beneficial rather than interfering.

The ability to fly so well hooked-up is an amazing feat, further demonstrating the other-worldliness of these creatures.

The moment of separation. Finally the tension of the water is overcome, and the the victim is freed. I wonder how long it will take her to recover from the near-drowning experience.

Then again, it could be a simple case of oviposting...
A few hours spent at Papago Park in Phoenix yielded quite a variety of Dragons. Below is a sampling.

 

A kind and intelligent face

 

White-belted Ringtail
 

Busy Dragons

Nice leverage with the tale on the head. 
 

This dragon appears to be watching these bugs going at it.
 

 
 

 
 
This dragon had the hole from the 'Hole in the Rock as his background.
 

 

M

 

 

all images on this page copyright 2008 Joe Phillips

 Email address wildcatelsol(at)hotmail.com