{"id":336,"date":"2015-06-17T11:01:08","date_gmt":"2015-06-17T16:01:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lostpineslife.com\/?p=336"},"modified":"2017-07-29T21:18:01","modified_gmt":"2017-07-30T02:18:01","slug":"dragonflies-and-fairytales","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lostpineslife.com\/?p=336","title":{"rendered":"Dragonflies and Fairytales"},"content":{"rendered":"

Dragonflies rule the insect kingdom at Little Piney, at least in my mind. \u00a0Like their namesake, the mythological dragon, they are both beautiful and fierce. \u00a0Swift and deadly hunters, dragonflies fly forward at about 100 body-lengths per second, and backwards at about 3 body-lengths per second. \u00a0This translates to up to 38 miles per hour for larger dragonflies! They can also hover like a helicoptor for as much as a minute. \u00a0Large compound eyes see almost 360 degree, and 80% of the dragonfly brain is devoted to vision. \u00a0It’s hard to hide from a dragonfly<\/p>\n

Dragonflies may eat as much as a fifth of their own body weight in a day’s time. \u00a0 These hungry carnivores consume everything from mosquitoes to butterflies, and even smaller members of their own species.<\/p>\n

The life-cycle of the dragonfly is as fairytale-like as it’s name. \u00a0One to six years are spent underwater as larvae. The larvae surface again and again over the years to molt then return to pond life below. \u00a0Finally, one spring day, a plain dark nymph, climbs up a blade of water grass and out of the pond forever. \u00a0 From this homely skin,\u00a0a dazzling adult emerges and soars away on shimmering wings to begin its short but beautiful life. \u00a0Rapunzel in a pond? \u00a0 Photographer Andy Holt<\/a> has captured the amazing process in a video worth watching posted on Ark in Space<\/a>, a nature blog.<\/p>\n

I found a shed skin on a twig here at Dragonfly Pond–<\/p>\n

\"Dragonfly
Dragonfly’s Last Molt<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Sometimes dragonflies are quick and camera shy; other times they pose to show off their sunlit colors. \u00a0Below are the different types of dragonflies I have photographed so far. \u00a0I hope to have a longer zoom lens soon so that I can replace some of these blurry photos with sharp ones. Click on each image for the name.<\/p>\n

\"order <\/a>
Eastern Amberwing <\/div> <\/div> <\/div>
\"Roseate <\/a>
Roseate Skimmer <\/div> <\/div>
\"Common <\/a>
Common Whitetail <\/div> <\/div>
\"nature <\/a>
Roseate Skimmer Photographed at Little Piney, Lost Pines, Bastrop TX <\/div> <\/div> <\/div> <\/div>
\"Eastern <\/a>
Eastern Pondhawk <\/div> <\/div> <\/div>
\"nature <\/a>
Blue Dasher <\/div> <\/div>
\"Eastern <\/a>
Eastern Pondhawk <\/div> <\/div> <\/div> <\/div> <\/div>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"Common
Common Green Darner<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"Widow
Widow Skimmer Libellula luctuos<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Most of my information came from wikipedia<\/a> and Odonata Central.org<\/a>. \u00a0For identification Dragonflies and Damselflies of Texas on Flicker<\/a>.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

And http:\/\/www.insectidentification.org<\/a>\u00a0is great site for insect identification.<\/p>\n

Save<\/span>Save<\/span><\/p>\n

Save<\/span>Save<\/span><\/p>\n

Save<\/span>Save<\/span><\/p>\n

Save<\/span>Save<\/span><\/p>\n

Save<\/span>Save<\/span><\/p>\n

Save<\/span>Save<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Dragonflies rule the insect kingdom at Little Piney, at least in my mind. \u00a0Like their namesake, the mythological dragon, they are both beautiful and fierce. \u00a0Swift and deadly hunters, dragonflies fly forward at about 100 body-lengths per second, and backwards at about 3 body-lengths per second. \u00a0This translates to up to 38 miles per hourContinue reading<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":514,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[22,41],"tags":[114,5,72,115,113],"class_list":["post-336","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-bastrop-lost-pines-nature","category-lost-pines-life","tag-bastrop-texas-drangonflies","tag-bastrop-tx","tag-dragonfly","tag-lost-pines-dragonflies","tag-texas-dragonflies"],"yoast_head":"\nDragonflies and Fairytales<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Dragonflies rule the insect kingdom at Little Piney, at least in my mind. 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