26 January, 2010

Dragonflies

What is that small noise? Frantic flapping. Follow that cat. It is a Blue Emperor dragonfly, lying on the water flailing his wings. I am guessing it was newly hatched, and pumping up his never been unfolded before wings. So I fished him out of the water, perched him on a nearby pelargonium. Distracted the cat from his prior claim. Sadly, later in the day, the Ungardener found a dead dragonfly lying in the water. Same one? Old or injured, rather than frail newborn?? (Remember this post from September? Young dragonfly going to fly)


When I worked in Zurich, I used to walk to work via the bridge over the Limmat river. One morning as I approached the water I heard frantic, fighting with his last breath for his life, flapping. From the bridge looking down into the water, I saw a pigeon. Just one of those 'flying rats' . Not being a water bird, the more he flapped the wetter, more sodden and heavy he got. And slowly, patiently, languidly circling, not much farther above him. Were the seagulls. Being Swiss, they have all had their heads dipped in good Lindt chocolate. Their menace, just waiting until the pigeon is too weak to fight any more. Those minutes walking across the bridge, time stood still in horror. Living thru Hitchcock's The Birds.

But pigeons are a problem in the city. Because the people, who are the real problem, leave lots of food out. So on another morning early. The sharpshooters were out, dressed in their regulation camouflage.


And on one of these lovely cool fresh mornings, with high cloud cover, when the insects are displaying themselves, while waiting patiently for the sun to come thru. This red-veined dropwing dragonfly - was one of the last pictures our dead camera took.


Photos and written by Diana of  Elephant's Eye 

11 comments:

  1. I loved these stories, Diana, but please accept my condolences for your camera. The dragonflies are amazing. We love coming upon them here, often by the pond, but in other parts of the garden as well. A hurt animal is always a cause for pain and sadness, no matter what it is.

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  2. Hi Diana, I love your dragonfly photos and your story of Zurich. Dipped in chocolate is a great description! Do the Swiss actually go out and shoot the pigeons?? Is that what you meant? Here they give them birth control pills and have invented clever means to prevent them from roosting in public places, so effective that there are practically no pigeons left at the train station in Mannheim.

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  3. Barbara - just once I saw them shooting. It was years ago. And it is years since we lived in Zurich.

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  4. Stunning dragonfly photos!! Beautiful! What a lovely gift from your dying camera! I am sure you will not grieve long and will have a new and better one to take it's place soon. ;>)

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  5. Hi Diana~~ It's always nice to give a kitty cat a hand. Dragonfly too for that matter. I hate that the pigeon had to die. Nature can be cruel.

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  6. Lovely pictures, I love dragonflies amazing little things.

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  7. That Blue Emperor Dragonfly looks almost like a sculpture in your photo - so beautiful!

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  8. Chocolat is gorgeous, and hilarious! And that emerald dragonfly made me intensely happy. We have a wild pond full of cattails and other plants, and in high summer it's abuzz with all kinds of dragonflies and damselflies, among other charming creatures. I have assorted dragonfly art pieces in the house too, so I can have them around me all year long. Your photos are, as Carol observed, stunning.

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  9. That first photo of the dragonfly is amazing; looks to me like the creature is smiling! i never knew dragonflies were so cute. Speaking of cute, Chocolat takes the cake!

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  10. Diana, I have never seen a red dragonfly before, are they only in Africa? Dragonflies are my good luck charms, worn around my neck everyday. I will have to look into the red dragonfly more deeply, and see if it has a special meaning.

    Kathy

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  11. GardeningAngel - It is about taking time to observe. We were spellbound the first time we saw a Blue Emperor, at the Kirstenbosch plant sale. Hope he didn't go home in the back of someone's car. Then these red, or orange, or brown ones. And then the much tinier, more delicate damselflies. Always something more to see in a wild garden!

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Photographs and Copyright

Photographs are from Diana Studer or Jurg Studer.
My Canon PowerShot A490

If I use your images or information, it will be clearly acknowledged with either a link to the website, or details of the book. If you use my images or words, I expect you to acknowledge them in turn.


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