Emerging is a dangerous experience for dragonflies and doubly so when they do it in the rain. As the water-dwelling nymph is transformed into a beautiful aerial acrobat, it is very vulnerable to predators and weather. Initially the wings are extremely fragile and it takes some time for them to harden enough to permit flying.
On Monday, it was drizzling when I spotted this female Banded Pennant dragonfly (Celithemis fasciata) at a small pond in Northern Virginia. Its metamorphosis is almost complete and I am optimistic that it managed to weather the storm and survive its transformation. If you double click on the image, you can see it in higher resolution and see some of the wonderful details and patterns of its body and wings, as well as some drops of rain.
In case you are curious about a dragonfly’s magical metamorphosis, I was able to observe entire process two years ago with a Common Sanddragon dragonfly and documented it in a series of 15 photos in a blog posting entitled Metamorphosis of a dragonfly. The images are pretty intense and utterly amazing—I encourage you to check them out.
© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.
Wow! Just showed this to Nigel and we are awestruck! What a beauty!
Oh wow Mike, that is beautiful!
Benjamin is in absolute awe over the metamorphosis of the dragonfly in your previous post and so am I! What a marvelous learning experience for both of us. Your persistence in the face of adversity was well rewarded. Benjamin said : “Wow, I can’t believe that big dragonfly came out of that little shell! About this Banded Pennant he said : “This is a beauty, look at the yellow on his body and all the black marks on his wings! Dragonflies are my favorite cause they are the bestest!” He can not wait to share all of these photos and what he learned with Mommy and Daddy Thank-you, Mr. Mike!!
Love those wings! Especially now that I know most are transparent 😉
As always great detail
Very nice captures and detail, Mike!
Double WOW!
Nice Mike! I miss my old home where we had a pond and used to see this on a regular basis. They were always fun to watch and see this happen.
Lovely shot.