Dragonflies in the Neighbourhood

 I have been astonished by the variety of dragonfly species inhabiting a fairly small tract of land here in St-Laurent, Quebec.  I present them here with their common and scientific names:

Female or immature male Dot-tailed Whiteface, leucorrhinia intacta

Belted Whiteface, leucorrhinia proxima

Immature male Twelve-spotted Skimmer, libellula pulchella

Female Twelve-spotted Skimmer, libellula pulchella

Male Twelve-spotted Skimmer, libellula pulchella

Immature male Common Whitetail, plathemis lydia

Male Common Whitetail, plathemis lydia

Four-spotted Skimmer, libellula quadrimaculata

White-faced Meadowhawk, sympetrum obtrusum

Immature male or adult female Widow Skimmer, libellula luctuosa

Lance-tipped Darner, aeshna constricta

Canada Darner, aeshna canadensis - mating

Wandering Glider, pantala flavescens

Wandering Glider, pantala flavescens

Male Elusive Clubtail, stylurus notatus

Female Elusive Clubtail, stylurus notatus

Spot-winged Glider, pantala hymenaea

Ruby Meadowhawk, sympetrum rubicundulum

Immature Common Green Darner, anax junius

Female Swift River Cruiser, macromia illinoiensis

Male Swift River Cruiser, macromia illinoiensis

This last dragonfly inspired me to write the following verse:

EMERALD EYES

With emerald eyes

they scan the skies

And as they rise

I realize

with no surprise

what this implies - 

they're dragonflies!

An amazing transformation

After having photographed the metamorphosis of a Cicada last year, I was thinking about the process for Dragonflies.  To my amazement, I found one yesterday just as it was pushing out of its nymph shell (exuvia).  I managed to get off one quick shot before it was out completely.  Then I was able to witness (and capture) the phases of its transformation as its wings unfolded and it became a "full-fledged" Dragonfly!

Here is a series of photographs documenting this awesome process:

The nymph (which has been living a fully aquatic life and breathing through gills) climbs out of the water and up the stem or blade of a plant.  It then clings to the plant as the Dragonfly compresses its abdomen which causes the thoracic region to swell and split open the skin on the insect's back.  It then twitches and pushes until it manages to free itself from the nymphal skin.

In a matter of seconds the Dragonfly was completely out!

While in the larval (nymph) stage, and just before climbing up the plant, it consumes a large quantity of water which it uses to pump into its appendages causing them to elongate. 

 The expanding wings are evident in this photograph.

Further expansion takes place as minutes pass.

The wings become fully extended and the Dragonfly re-positions itself on the plant.  The re-positioning was done several times.

This side-view shows off its lovely, lacey wings!

The Dragonfly also moved its legs on occasion and made head movements as though stretching.

This photo shows how it has now moved completely away from its former skin.

After the wings are fully expanded, excess water is expelled from its digestive tract (you can see a drop at its tip) and air is pumped into the wings to harden them.

This process continues for a short time and once again the Dragonfly re-positions itself.

In a very sudden movement the wings spring open into the familiar position of those of a fully formed Dragonfly.  This picture was taken a second or two after the previous one.

As I took this final photo a breeze came up and riffled the Dragonfly's wings and I wondered how it felt for this insect who, up until an hour earlier, had been confined in another body.

Dramatic Dragonflies

The more I photograph dragonflies the more fascinated I become by their beauty and variety. The following identifications are my best judgements. If anyone has another suggestion, please let me know.


Twelve-spotted Skimmer



Male Eastern Pondhawk



Female Eastern Pondhawk




Dot-tailed Whiteface



Four-spotted Skimmer


Unicorn Clubtail


Common Green Darner


Female Widow Skimmer


Immature male Widow Skimmer


Male widow Skimmer on Loosestrife

Male Widow Skimmer

Immature male Widow Skimmer

Immature male Widow Skimmer

I'm back!

Well, it has been almost a month since I last posted. One reason for this is that I was on vacation for a week and took so many photographs that I have spent all my time editing them since then. Also, of course, there was the usual "catch-up" to do at work and on top of that I bought a new computer and had it installed this past Friday. I was aghast to find out that data transfer (from the old computer) was not included in the installation (it was when I upgraded eight years ago!) so I have worked all weekend doing it myself. I am almost finished but my photographs alone have taken 10 hours to transfer!! What takes 1 hour on my old computer takes only 3 minutes on my new one so it was way past time to upgrade.


Now I am exhausted but thought I would post two dragonfly photos. I took these at an urban nature park that is a real treasure trove for finding dragonflies so I will go back often. I hope you like these in the meantime.


Eastern Pondhawk (female or immature male)


Widow Skimmer (female)