Dragonfly Rescued

[Geoff F]

This Golden-ringed Dragonfly was egg laying in a small pond from an umbellifer stem and moving about to spread the eggs around.



Then she ran out of stem fell into the water.



I found a stick about two feet long on the bank and managed to get myself into a position where I held it in front of her. She climbed onto the stick and continued egg laying; so I found myself in the bizarre position of holding a stick in the water with a dragonfly on the other end 18 inches away.



Eventually I managed to push one end of the stick into the mud and rested the other end on the bank. When I left she was still on the stick resting and drying out.

[Shadowman]

Nice series.

[skitterbug]

You do such good work capturing wildlife in pics and now rescuing them too! Wow.

May I ask - do you choose all your camera setting manually? Or do you maybe pic the f# and ISO and let the camera handle shutter and focus? I'm still all "thumbs" if I have to try and pick them all. I'm curious as usual!

[RandyRFJP]

Very nice images, Geoff, as well as a very thoughtful rescue of your subject.

[Wavelength]

You did a great job; you saved a mother in the becoming.... and nice images of the situation; by the way do they lay eggs in water, like mosquito?

[JBW]

a good deed and some fine shots. It doesn't get much better.

[IzzieK]

I was just watching animals rescuing other animals video a while ago in Facebook. A fine job you did for this mom whose life cycle last only 7 months...

In response from Mr. Google Nandy --

Female dragonflies lay eggs in or near water, often on plants. When laying eggs, some species go under the water to lay their eggs on a good surface. The eggs then hatch into nymphs. While in the nymph stage they eat mosquito larvae and other things.

[Geoff F]

That is correct, Izzie, some species of craneflies also lay eggs in soft mud beside water. The larvae of Damselflies and Dragonflies are certainly savage feeders who attack almost anything they encounter when living underwater.

Regarding my settings, Sandy. For insect photos I mostly set the shutter speed, aperture and Iso manually to suit the scene then allow my flash to self adjust, plus or minus a little bit of output compensation to allow for variations in the individual scenes.

When not using flash for this sort of subject, and many other scenes, I choose the aperture and Iso manually then allow the shutter speed to self adjust; but I always keep a watch on the settings and readjust one of the 'fixed' items if my shutter speed goes excessively slow, or high.

Thanks for all the comments.

[bnnrcn]

Nice images with a nice story

[rpcrowe]

Nice images... However, even nicer is that you cared about another living thing enough to save it. Congratulations!

[skitterbug]

Thank you for the explanation Geoff! I am working toward manual but it is a slow go for me. Your pictures are always excellent!

[Wavelength]

Thank you izzie and Geoff

[John 2]

a good deed and some fine shots. It doesn't get much better.

Can't add to that. Nice work in both respects Geoff.

[Geoff F]

Thanks for the replies.

This does raise some issues about when is it OK to interfere with nature. For example, when one wild creature is eating another one you should do nothing; except record the situation. Rescuing 'little lost birds' can be damaging if the parents are still feeding a juvenile just out of the nest and living on the ground before it gets full wing use.

For me, picking the creature out of the water would be questionable, but offering it a stick to climb on is OK because this is simply giving it an alternative choice.

[JBW]

Thanks for the replies.

This does raise some issues about when is it OK to interfere with nature. For example, when one wild creature is eating another one you should do nothing; except record the situation. Rescuing 'little lost birds' can be damaging if the parents are still feeding a juvenile just out of the nest and living on the ground before it gets full wing use.

For me, picking the creature out of the water would be questionable, but offering it a stick to climb on is OK because this is simply giving it an alternative choice.

My belief, and I stress only my belief is that humans either through creation or evolution or indeed both are well fitted to be Stewards. A good Steward knows when to prune, to harvest, to help. I try to be as unobtrusive as possible with my photography and my stewardship.

I would have offered the stick.