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Here be Dragons
Not perhaps as mysterious as 'real' dragons, but their double life as water living nymphs followed by a final chapter as these stunning fairy-winged predators makes dragonflies truly fascinating creatures. They are large, easy to see, often colourful and they have a 'friendly' story book character in our psyche, one of the 'good' insects. But most of us don't know much about them or just how they live, what do they do? what do they eat? how long do they live? I don't know either, so we can find out together. What do we know so far...
Dragonflies seen in Karamea so far;
Whilst they are seen frequently actually when all the images come together there are only 4 - 5 different species so far, but that is okay, as New Zealand has less than 18 Dragonfly species.
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Red Percher
This beautiful red creature, thus far seen only once, that was on the South Terrace around water and amongst the Manuka scrub. I wish I had followed him around for longer and got some better shots, but as I recall he didn't sit still for long (the most terrible dragonfly habit).
Green Eyes! - the most common
The most common Dragonfly seen out along the Karamea coast is the Australian Emerald Dragonfly, Hemicordulia australiae. The most common and my absolute favourite, mostly I admit, because of those gorgeous green eyes! These Dragonflies are also called Sentry Dragonflies, for their habit of 'patrolling' open spaces around waterways, this habit also lends them to being often seen. So are they the most common, or just the most commonly seen?
Apparently there are potentially now two different species of Hemicordulia, australiae or armstrongi, one is not bent on figuring these out at this point, but if one does, it would be interesting to know.
Forest Giants - Kapowai
If you head back away from the coast to the bush edges and into the bush, the most common Dragonfly you will see are our native, endemic, Giant Forest Dragonfly or Giant Bush Dragonfly. These enormous dragonflies buzz past you on the track and you are sure it must have been a bird, they are so large. These Dragonflies probably perch more often than any of the others I have observed, most of them can dart around for an hour and never sit still, but if you watch Uropetula Carovei long enough, they will sit eventually. So very much in favour for the happy snapper.
In memory of a Dragonfly.... ............ .....
One feels that one owes a tribute to this dear Kapowai, as he posed so nicely for the camera... and may have been static because I was watching him..... and then nect minute....oh dear, a thousand sorries to this beautiful Kapowai whose life ended upon this photo.
The Nymph Life...
Of course all of this 'dragonfly' life as these beautiful flying creatures, is just a fraction of the dragonfly's lifespan. Most of their lives, 3-5 years is actually spent as a flightless nymph creature. Our special Kapowai nymphs actually live in little burrows near the water and come out to hunt at night, but most other species live their nymph life in waterways, streams and ponds. From the few observations I have of these underwater nymphs, they are quite fearsome ravenous predators.
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