Egg Laying

First shot is of a Green Darner male dragonfly waiting in the reeds before cruising for a mate. Subsequent shots are of a pair laying eggs until the male walks up on a reed to end their time together.

Dear Allen,

Welcome to Story Sequences! An interesting series of images displaying behaviour of dragonflies and I enjoyed viewing:w3

Love the colours, detail and composition, but especially the setting of this scene where the female appears to be performing a delicate balancing act on that dried reed stalk:)

Interesting to know that the male and female mate while flying, and (just as above) the female prefers to deposit the eggs onto aquatic plants when available...otherwise (I am told) she just drops them on the water surface!

Thank you once again for sharing those images dear Allen, and apologies for taking so long to view and comment - you certainly managed to capture and present the story of those tiny characters and I like the way perspective and scale here helps create meaning within the mini-world of the Dragonfly:cheers:

Kind regards,

Hi Gabriela and thanks for commenting. I saw these large dragonflies in mid-March here in Memphis a few years ago. It was early in the season for odes and these were the first I'd seen that year. When I saw them laying eggs, I decided to wade out into the pond to capture the behavior. I waded out over my hiking boots which gets pretty chilly here in March. For me it was worth it though as I rarely get to photograph ovipositing.

Thanks again and I will try digging through my archives looking for another story or two.

Allen

Thank you so much Allen,

I love all creatures in Nature, big or small - so looking forward to more story sequences from you:5

Kind regards,

Very interesting. Not sure what the male is doing, laying the eggs? Or mating? Not familiar with their breeding behaviour:S3:

Stunning images. The first image is a beautiful stand alone work of art. The rest are beautiful too. Love the blues and greens and clarity in the whole sequence.

Hi Jackie and Alison, thank you for the comments.

Jackie, I think the male just has a grip on the female's head and his main role may be protection from other males as the female lays the eggs. The mating has already been done and can happen while flying mid-air as Gabriela states.

Hello Allen,

This is so interesting that I have started reading more about your subjects:)

I am going to look for some old images I have taken years ago, at the time I was told the pair I photographed was a Dragonfly and a Damselfly (what beautiful names, by the way). The quality is poor but the content might warrant sharing, as the two were mating on a beautiful, colourful leaf on the water surface. I might have to RP though, I used to add some awful frames to my images at the time, LOL.

Thank you again Allen, the more I view your images the more I like them, give us more if you have:5

Have a great week-end,

Wonderful story, and fantastic sharpness on that first one!