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Azure Damselflies Egg Laying in Tandem
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| [Note Guidelines] Photographer's Note |
A first veiw for me of Azure Damselflies (Coenagrion puella),, this image is another from my vistit to the garden and meadow area belonging to Geoff Trinder the 1st being of a Brown Knapweed flower.
When I 1st saw the male I thought that is was just another common Blue damselfly but geoff pointed out that it was actually an Azure damselfly the main differance being the last segment of the tail has a black "U" shape bitting into the blue ofthe upper surface. also the stripes on the thorax are much narrower than those of the common blue.
though a common species it prefers sheltered small ponds like you find in gardens with plenty of vegitation in and around the edge, like this garden pond here. It appears to be a wandering species, the immature adults emerge from their breeding water in mid may to mid June and as soon as they are dry they fly away from the water and over the next 13 - 16 days while maturing sexually and aquiring their full adult colours they wander far and wide. when mature they then find the nearest suitable pond which is most likely not their home water, infact one authority calculated that only 12 - 23% of adults find their home water so the gene's get well mixed every year.
Males wait around the edge of the pond awaiting the arrival of the females in the warmest part of the day. He will grab her behind the head and try to form the classic wheeled copulation position then setal on edge vegitation to mate for upto 30mins the will then fly back over the water in tandem and he will keep hold of her while she inserts the eggs into the stems of submerged floating plants. though he is seen here resting on top of the floating duck weed . quiet often he will stand vertically on his tail so all his weight of 35Mg is placed on her neck, it is thought that this postion gives him a better veiw of the surroundings so that he may spot preditors that may wish to eat them.
These eggs hatch in 2 - 5 weeks and will be ready to emerge next year.
Hope you like and look forward to your coments on it |
phlr, AdrianW, jmp, ljsugarnspice, Aramok has marked this note useful
Only registered TrekNature members may rate photo notes. |
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Hello Robert.
Great colours. Great mosaic.
TFS
Annick Vanderschelden
- cosmln
![Gold Star Critiquer/Silver Workshop Editor/Gold Note Writer [C: 199 W: 12 N: 475]](http://i1.treknature.com/misc/g-s-g.gif)
(1860) - [2006-06-26 17:27]
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hi Robert,
very nice composition, and that green bubble :) BG is amazing.
TFS,
cosmln
WOW!! amazing! the DOF, POV and colors are all excellent!!
TFS!
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- Aramok
![Gold Star Critiquer/Gold Star Workshop Editor/Gold Note Writer [C: 927 W: 103 N: 1420]](http://i1.treknature.com/misc/g-g-g.gif)
(4885) - [2006-06-27 3:16]
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Rob - you have great detail in both damselflies and both are infocus, not eay over water... The colours are very good, are you persevering with RAW? and I love the notes - explains a lot..
TFS
Emma
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- phlr
(2804)
- [2006-06-27 13:20]
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Great capture Robert!
Very good job with the odonata laying eggs!
Very good POV and colours!
Excellent DOF and details!
5* and TFS!
Although the insects don't seem to be as sharp as they might be, I like the photo anyway because of the delicate weed filling the rest of the frame. You had plenty of light, a wider DOF would have helped with the sharpness.
![Gold Star Critiquer/Silver Workshop Editor/Silver Note Writer [C: 82 W: 16 N: 45]](http://i1.treknature.com/misc/g-s-s.gif)
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