A Dragonfly's Tale

The lily pond is a hotbed of dragonfly activity, now that it's high summer. During my visits these past few days, I've also seen many exuviae, which are the shells that dragonflies shed when they leave their aquatic phase behind, climb up out of the water, emerge from the shell, open up their wings, and take to the skies. I've only seen the actual process of the dragon emerging one time, and what an exciting moment that was! I keep hoping to see it again.

I suspect that the dragonfly in this shot may be the same 12-spotted skimmer from yesterday's post (see the extra photo area). I do have to admit that when I saw the dragonfly keep returning to the same plant to sit on, just above the crispy little shell remnant, I wondered if it had been the one to shed it. But of course, I will never know . . .

The song to accompany this blip just has to be about flying. So here is the Steve Miller Band, with Jet Airliner.