Curious courtship

[purplehaze]

While on an outing with my nieces last week, I met a photographer who alerted me to the presence of damselflies there where you see him at the edge of the lagoon.

#1
[IMG]_DSC5690 - Version 2 by Janis Hughes, on Flickr[/IMG]

When I went to check it out later on, I was startled to see what I thought at the time was an orgy, but later learned was merely a mass courtship ritual. I am really sorry I didn't do a better job with these. Most of my shots were overexposed and I needed more depth of field, so I can't show you the four and five and six couples on a single blade of grass, as I would have dearly loved to. But imagine multiple formations like this:

#2
[IMG]_DSC5701 - Version 2 by Janis Hughes, on Flickr[/IMG]

Each male has his abdomen thrust into the thorax of the female. If the female thinks he's a good catch, she will eventually curl her abdomen toward his secondary genitalia and they will form a heart shape. I didn't witness this, but you can see a lovely image of it here.

This will look pretty feeble by comparison:

#3
[IMG]_DSC5712 - Version 2 by Janis Hughes, on Flickr[/IMG]

Finally, a half-way decent exposure:

#4
[IMG]_DSC5717 - Version 2 by Janis Hughes, on Flickr[/IMG]

C&C welcome.

By the way, I told the photographer about you all and what a nice group you are, so perhaps he will join us and share his images of the event.

[bnnrcn]

Hi Janis Those are really interesting and photogenic critters . I especially like #2 as I haven't seem them in groups before. Thanks for sharing.


PS. I used a wrong name while commenting and I have corrected it as soon as I noticed. Very sorry about it Janis I think I wasn't fully awake when I commented because I also used the wrong number for the image I like best and I have corrected it right now too!

[IzzieK]

Janis...I love this series and the narrative that went with it. I love story telling, but accompanied with pictures like this makes it more interesting and more understandable. Kudos to you for that...

Anyway, to follow through, I guess heart shape is a general symbol/sign of love, valentine, etc. even in mother nature, not just humans who invented the word itself. If this is what you ... didn't do a better job ... at, then excuse me, I am the worst at what my images looks like. These are good as far as I can see here. That you can do better?... perhaps...who knows what your next image/s will look like...better or best?

[deetheturk]

Very nice Janis, or is it Rita lol, Binnur, must do better

[Shadowman]

Nice series.

[John 2]

Nice and informative series Janis. I have never witnessed this behaviour in the local Damselfly population (mainly Common Blues). Do you know if it is general or specific to the species you were observing?

[Dave Humphries]

Anyway, to follow through, I guess heart shape is a general symbol/sign of love, valentine, etc. even in mother nature, not just humans who invented the word itself.

I was wondering if the 'two hand representation' of the heart shape, plus the shape when drawn, might be based on our early ancestors observation of this behaviour.

Janis,

In my experience, they are very tricky to expose for, being bright and often shiny reflective that like to bask in sunshine and shot against a dark background.

Getting as much of possible of them sharp is another challenge.

As such, shooting them can become addictive.

A couple of my better shots (from hundreds of failures):
Not sure if this pair had got to the egg laying stage: http://www.pbase.com/dhumphries/image/126540184
Plus: http://www.pbase.com/dhumphries/image/136532955

Cheers, Dave

[Stagecoach]

No 2 is a real cracker Janis, that shape along with all eyes within the DoF is quite an achievement.

[TobyMac]

nice series, I quite like the symmetry of the first.

[Ziggy]

Nice find Janis.

[JohnRostron]

No 2 is a real cracker Janis, that shape along with all eyes within the DoF is quite an achievement.

+1 to that!

John
N

[purplehaze]

Thank you all for your feedback.

No worries, Binnur. I forgot my own cousin's name while introducing her and her family on the beach the other day.

John, it's my understanding that this behaviour is common to all Odonates. For specific info about damselflies, see this (takes a while to load).

Izzie, glad you liked my story. With respect to the heart shape, check this out. As far as the quality of our images goes, I imagine we are each our own worst critics, so perhaps we should go easier on ourselves.

Thanks for sharing your images and experience, Dave. It's comforting to know that it really is a challenge to capture these guys well.