And as I had mentioned before, the male of the Crocothemis servilia is red. Now, I do mean really, really red. Not just the thorax and abdomen, but the eyes and face too. Here's looking at one of the good looking males of the Crocothemis servilia...
In the beginning, all red dragonflies were exactly that. Red dragonflies. They had all looked pretty much the same to me too. And especially when what you could see with the naked eye is only a red dragonfly zapping past you. How do you tell them apart? How do you differentiate between the species? I did not know any better then.
And to tell you the truth, when I first looked into the Pocket Guide and attempted to identify that first red dragonfly, I was stumped! Totally stumped!
I had to put in an order for the book and have not had the chance to browse through it at the bookstore to know what to expect. When I finally got the little book, I got home, turned the pages and, being as naive as I could be, had thought that I would be able to pick out and identify that red dragonfly just like that. Yes, it seems funny now! But, over that first hour of poring through the pages of the Pocket Guide, I became even more confused. I was overwhelmed by it all.
Now I really am lost! Which species is that red dragonfly? It could be this and it could even be that!
So I had to go right back to the beginning and start all over again. I read the chapter on "Introduction", slowly and thoroughly. Then I looked into structures and features and kept going back again and again to the first chapter for references.
I had not studied biology. Or botany, zoology, ecology or anything like that. And I had never ever dissected anything at Science class in school. So you can imagine all the new anatomical terms I had to digest. But I am not giving up on this project! I looked for more stuff online. I went through anything and everything I could find and I devoured them. Initially, it was all mumbo jumbo but it is all making more sense to me now.
These days, I am intent on taking a good look at every dragonfly I come across. And, mind you, not just the red ones! I am slowly learning to see the few differences between the species. Although it often requires some close scrutiny to identify them, it is now sometimes possible to pick out some of the common species almost immediately. Particularly when I keep going back to the same places and seeing the same species of dragonflies over and over again. It is all a learning process. It is a journey.
And, without fail, these dragonflies still have me looking at them in awe...
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