A Little from the Life of Dragonflies

Here, on the banks of the Siverskyi Donets, dragonflies are among the most conspicuous insects. I have accumulated a number of frames showing how they live, die, and reproduce. [IMG_1] [IMG_2] Flights over water can end badly. [IMG_3] A dragonfly that falls into the water sticks to its surface. This is not yet the end, but the chances of survival in such a situation are small: it must reach aquatic vegetation before the water filling its tracheae drowns the tired insect, and before some more or less large fish sees it. [IMG_4] [IMG_5] A desperate struggle for life... [IMG_6] [IMG_7] [IMG_8] [IMG_9] [IMG_10] And this dragonfly is crooked (with an abnormally bent tip of the abdomen) and covered with mites (bright red dots on its body). Life must be hard for it... [IMG_11] Damsels (that is the name of the group!). They are doing well: neat... [IMG_12] [IMG_13] [IMG_14] And these are pairs of spreadwings laying eggs in the water. The female is below, and the male linked to her rises above her like the neck of a blue giraffe. [IMG_15] [IMG_16] [IMG_17] The males in a group of three pairs have tangled together. It looks as if they are fighting... [IMG_18] [IMG_19] [IMG_20] And this is a larva. It is not clear what brought it to the surface - there is still some time left before metamorphosis... [IMG_21] ...This life continues all the time, both when we are nearby to see it and even photograph it, and when nobody is nearby. Moreover, it was the same long before our appearance.