Dragon Flies

While I was out looking at my greening lily leaves, one of my favorite
creatures came flying by and landed on the cattail fronds. This is a
magnificent specimen as his body is about 1/2" wide and about 3" long and is
the brightest organgish-red you can imagine. He looks like he just came from
the paint shop and somebody has been waxing him for hours.

I've been looking for a photograph of him or his species for a 1/2 hour on
the www and nothing I found comes close to the color of this guy.

The other day when I was out there, he was there and a smaller miniature
version of him was there also...this one was a brilliant indigo blue.

One of the reasons I went to the internet before was to see if I could find
any data on the life cycle of dragon flies as I know this will sound stupid
but there was an exact replica of this guy who frequented my pond last year.
Couldn't be the same one could it? Remember, I'm in southern California - no
freezing allowed here. (At least at my elevation.)

On Fri, 11 Jul 2003 14:26:22 -0700, "bobkiely"
wrote:

While I was out looking at my greening lily leaves, one of my favorite
creatures came flying by and landed on the cattail fronds. This is a
magnificent specimen as his body is about 1/2" wide and about 3" long and is
the brightest organgish-red you can imagine. He looks like he just came from
the paint shop and somebody has been waxing him for hours.

I've been looking for a photograph of him or his species for a 1/2 hour on
the www and nothing I found comes close to the color of this guy.

The other day when I was out there, he was there and a smaller miniature
version of him was there also...this one was a brilliant indigo blue.

One of the reasons I went to the internet before was to see if I could find
any data on the life cycle of dragon flies as I know this will sound stupid
but there was an exact replica of this guy who frequented my pond last year.
Couldn't be the same one could it? Remember, I'm in southern California - no
freezing allowed here. (At least at my elevation.)

http://powell.colgate.edu/wda/Beginners_Guide.htm

(iv) Life expectancy.
The average life expectancy of the adult odonate depends on the part
of the world in which it lives. Generally speaking, in temperate zones
the largest portion of an odonate's lifetime, which may amount to
several years, is spent in the larval stage while the adult phase is
one or two months. In species common to the tropics and subtropics,
however, larval development may be reduced to a few months and the
adult stage may last a full year.

I looked for pictures typing in "California dragonflies" and got a lot
of links to buy books, but no good pictures.

bobkiely wrote:

While I was out looking at my greening lily leaves, one of my favorite
creatures came flying by and landed on the cattail fronds. This is a
magnificent specimen as his body is about 1/2" wide and about 3" long and is
the brightest organgish-red you can imagine. He looks like he just came from
the paint shop and somebody has been waxing him for hours.

I've been looking for a photograph of him or his species for a 1/2 hour on
the www and nothing I found comes close to the color of this guy.

The other day when I was out there, he was there and a smaller miniature
version of him was there also...this one was a brilliant indigo blue.

One of the reasons I went to the internet before was to see if I could find
any data on the life cycle of dragon flies as I know this will sound stupid
but there was an exact replica of this guy who frequented my pond last year.
Couldn't be the same one could it? Remember, I'm in southern California - no
freezing allowed here. (At least at my elevation.)



You might try this link:

http://www.odenews.net/

Joe



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bobkiely wrote:

Here's an even better link:

http://www.southwestbirders.com/ode_photos.htm

Click on flame skimmer when you get there.

Joe



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Here in the PNW they die after their summer as adults.
I have nymph 'shells' all over my cattails in the frog bog where they've
climbed out.
One was decorating my ivy by the front door the other day.
And one was racing my 17-yr-old daughter as she was learning to drive. Even
quail were out distancing her ;-)


k30a

Yep! That's him! Good work Joe! That's a good name for it too as he likes to
swoop down to the water level and sorta dips his tail in the water. I
haven't seen that this year but I remember it doing it a lot last year.

Its not afraid of me either...It stays right on whatever he lights on and I
can walk right up to him or if I'm just standing out there he'll come up and
land right next to me.
Thanks for looking that up for me.
BK


"joe" wrote in message
...
bobkiely wrote:

Here's an even better link:

http://www.southwestbirders.com/ode_photos.htm

Click on flame skimmer when you get there.

Joe



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-----== Over 80,000 Newsgroups - 16 Different Servers! =-----

bobkiely wrote:
...
Its not afraid of me either...It stays right on whatever he lights on and I
can walk right up to him or if I'm just standing out there he'll come up and
land right next to me ...

When I wear floral-pattern clothes in the yard, the dragonflies land on
me. And if I'm not moving around, they stay for a while too.
--
zookeeper

I managed to save the mirror by grabbing it and pulling it in before it hit the
utility trailer in our driveway.

She says that 'EEEEEEEeeeeeeeee!!!' does not convey enough information.

As an aside each of the twins managed to blow out a tire on practice drives.
Son while at 40 mph on a gravel road (love those Volvos) and daughter said, 'is
the tire supposed to be hissing?' when we changed drivers.

I have one more teenager to go...


k30a

You'd have to work at it to get bit by a
dragonfly. They do have tearing jaws to
mangle mosquitoes into edible bits.
They use their front legs as a basket into
which they sweep their insect prey, then
chew them up on the fly.
Damselflies must perch on a plant stem before
consuming their mosquito or gnat or mayfly.


k30a

I have watched them ... but from afar - like from inside the
slider! I noticed that they perch on the grasses and plants
that overhang the pond. Also noticed that they dip their
rear in the pond on occasion. Now I'll get closer and
maybe have one of them light on my arm or finger??
Thanks for info, folks!!

Nedra
http://www.geocities.com/Heartland/Pines/4836
http://community.webshots.com/user/nedra118

"K30a" wrote in message
...

You'd have to work at it to get bit by a
dragonfly. They do have tearing jaws to
mangle mosquitoes into edible bits.
They use their front legs as a basket into
which they sweep their insect prey, then
chew them up on the fly.
Damselflies must perch on a plant stem before
consuming their mosquito or gnat or mayfly.


k30a