Every year the shoreline in the yard gets invaded by dragonfly nymphs and every year I tell myself that I need to document one making the transformation from juvenile to adult form, but I have never done it. By chance I found this beauty right next to the dock in the early morning –
But it looked like this when I first saw it –
I should have gone for the tripod, but I didn’t so here’s a handheld series of shots that I put into a movie to show the development of those beautiful wings! Darn that I didn’t see it a little earlier when it was coming out of the nymph exoskeleton. Oh well. Maybe next year.
If you want to see it you have to click this link for the 20 second version and here for a 35 second version because WordPress doesn’t support video apparently. At least without me shelling out. The complete series of stills is here.
My best ID is a Black-shouldered Spinyleg (Dromogomphus spinosus).
How exciting to see this happen. Too bad about the lack of video. I don’t know if you have considered YouTube for video, but you can embed a video from them into your WP blog at no extra cost. Maybe you can start your own channel – you might be able to keep it private, too, depending on how you set it up.