Hardly transformed from their nymph stage and they are mating already.
But this is the life cycle of dragonflies, as they are first an egg, then a nymph and then they transform in a process called Metamorphosis. In this post you will see a Nomad couple in action.
I started my photography life practicing on getting dragonflies on camera and I still enjoy this habit. Yes, I can sit for a long time waiting to get them, but it is always worth it.
Should you Google the life cycle of dragonflies, you will be sure to discover many surprises at the intricacies of these pre-historic beauties.
So let's take a look.
Straight up from the water level in this shot below.
Dragonflies belong to the order Odonata, in the Anisoptera family.
1. Dragonflies Are Ancient Insects
Long before the dinosaurs roamed the Earth, dragonflies took to the air. Griffenflies (Meganisoptera), the gigantic precursors to modern dragonflies had wingspans of over two feet and dotted the skies during the Carboniferous period over 300 million years ago.
Source
The single white line on the male's thorax tells me that this is a Nomad Dragonfly (Sympetrum fonscolombii)
This particular species lay their eggs by the female dipping her tail in the water. Not all dragonflies lay their eggs the same as there are many variants of the egg laying process across all of the different species.
Phew! A man has to take a brief rest from all of the action you know:)
I have posted many types of dragonflies over the years since I started with photography in 2012. In fact my first year was spent practicing with my small camera at the time on getting dragonflies. Then I saved up and bought a bigger camera a few years later. Yes I know that there are many great brands of bigger cameras, but for my purposes I needed a camera with a fixed lens, as carrying a bag with many lenses would set me up for criminals. But I also needed a strong zoom and the Canon Powershot answered all of my needs.
And it could also take great photos of our charity projects in action. (See the pinned post in my blog)
So that's it in a nutshell and I hope that you have enjoyed reading the story and that you liked the pictures.
And That's All Friends.
Photos by Zac Smith-All Rights Reserved.
Camera: Canon Powershot SX70HS Bridge camera.
Thank you kindly for supporting a post on behalf of @papilloncharity