Swarming Dragonflies!

 

Been sitting on a comfortable chair on my patio and watching several groups of swarming dragonflies the last few days.  Mostly Pantala flavescens, and I'm guessing, possibly a few dragonflies of one or two other species together in the whole swarm.

There must be several scores of them in one of these swarms, zapping to and fro just above the coconut palms.  The closest swarm is about 10 metres away from me.  And I get a good view of these swarms since I'm on the first floor and looks out to just about the top of these coconut palms.  From time to time, a few of these dragonflies would stop to perch on the palm fronds.  But mostly, after a while, the swarm would gradually move further and further away. 

By then, I would have finished my breakfast as well and have to get to work anyway. 

But it's always nice to start the day watching these dragonflies and spend a bit of time pondering about nature and all its mysteries!  These are such amazing insects!  There's so much energy there!  And these dragonflies seem just so free!

As I watch them, I often imagine myself being one of those dragonflies in those swarms there..... 

What a feeling!

Pantala flavescens Aplenty

Some of my friends would say I go "Wow" at almost every dragonfly and damselfly that I see, which is actually quite true and I don't deny it.  Yet, I can still remember when I first came across the Pantala flavescens for the first time early this year and I went, "Wow!"

 

 

Of late, I have been seeing quite a few swarms of the Pantala flavescens at a lot of places around Langkawi.  Although you can't really see so many of these dragonflies in the above photo, it is because this is only a part of the swarm and they were not all close together, but you get what I mean about seeing them in a lot of places. 

Anyway, I guess this must be the "season" for them and I have managed to get a few more photos of these dragonflies to add to my collection.

 

 

When I spotted the Pantala flavescens in the padi fields the other day, it was raining.  These dragonflies were perched hidden away among the grasses in the rain.  In all my previous encounters with this species, they have always perched up high on a twig in the tree so I was quite surprised by the discovery.

 

 

Anyway. tiny droplets of rain would collect on their wings and on their legs and from time to time, the dragonfly would just shake it off.

This grasshopper was also out in the rain...

 

 

I often enjoy being out there just to watch and observe all these habits and behaviours of these little creatures that never fail to fascinate me and keep me in awe!

And I often wish more people would appreciate nature for what it is and see the beauty in all that nature presents to us!

 

 

Finally!

After all these weeks, I did finally get out there and I have had a great field day... with dragonflies! 

And damselflies and a few other insects too.

There's so much to put down in writing and so many photos to share and talk about but it can't all happen at once.  So I'll have to start from the beginning and one at a time...

When I got to the first pond for the day, there were lots of dragonflies buzzing around over the water and as many dragonflies were perched on the grasses at the edge of the pond.  What a sight!

How I have missed them!

A lot of these dragonflies were of the Neurothemis spp, both N. fluctuans and N. fulvia, and they were most easily spotted due to their coloured wings.  And there were plenty of them!  There were also quite a number of red dragonflies around and a few of the other species too.

And it was both amusing and fascinating to watch the males of these species face off on their territorial fights.

It was a hot day and perhaps a bit too bright for photography.  Nevertheless, these are some of the pics I took today...

 

Neurothemis fulvia

 

Neurothemis fluctuans

 

Crocothemis servilia

 

Brachydiplax chalybea

 

Rhyothemis phyllis

 

Urothemis signata

 

And I would have to wait till another day and time to tell the next part of the story...

 

 

Sleeping Dragonflies...

I have often been asked, "Where do dragonflies sleep?"

And, sometimes, "Where do dragonflies go to at night?"

So I went out there in the late afternoon, around sunset hours, to look for them.  Of course, there are some species of dragonflies that would only be active at dawn and at dusk and hide or rest during the day while those that are usually active during the day would retire to rest by evening.  There are also a few species of dragonflies that would be attracted to bright lights during the night.

Here's what I've got...

 

A Trithemis aurora hidden behind the leaf of a lily plant.

 

Another Trithemis aurora, a female, on a grass blade.

 

A pair of female dragonflies, the Pantala flavescens (bottom) and Trithemis aurora (top) sharing a grass blade for the night.

 

Here's the setting sun on this day...

 

 

And the golden sky at dusk...

 

 

 

A Surprising Find!

Instead of going directly to my usual haunt in the usual way, I thought I'd take a longer walk and use a different route for a change.

Surprise!  Surprise!

Spotted this dragonfly perched up high on a twig on a tree!

 

 

To think that I was actually looking out for birds when this guy caught my attention! 

And then I had to climb up a wall to get a good look and a slightly better angle for a photo, all the while hoping this dragonfly won't get frightened off and buzz away somewhere else.  Never mind about falling off that wall!

As it turned out, he does like his perch on this twig!

 

 

This is a male dragonfly of the species Pantala flavescens of the family Libellulidae, with hindwing length of 41mm.  The Pocket Guide describes this species as having distinctive dark tips to the hindwings, colours of abdomen quite variable depending on maturity with younger dragonflies being light ochre while females range from yellow ochre to umber brown; and this species would venture far from water over rainforest canopy, is migratory and often present in large swarms.

Now... that makes me wonder.  Again, this seemed to be the only male dragonfly of this species in this area...  Or at least the only male of this species that I had spotted on this day!  Or perhaps they would be in large swarms during migration?  That is something I would hope to see one day!

So far, I have seen only the female dragonfly of this species before and this is the first time I have spotted the male.  Now that I know this dragonfly likes to perch up high, I will keep an eye out in these high places from now on.

With some species of dragonflies and damselflies, I would always see both the females and males of the species all the time.  With some other species, I have spotted the males often and from time to time I would catch sight of the females as well.  Even sometimes only when there is a pair in tandem or in wheel.  With a few other species, the females are just mysteriously absent!

I wonder where they are hiding?

With the Pantala flavescens, when I first came across this species it was a female dragonfly that I had spotted, and she was also perched on a twig, though just a little above eye level.

More places to keep a lookout!

 

Note: Click on "pantala" in the "Tags" below to read up on the female dragonfly.

 

 

Libellulidae - Pantala flasvescens

It's Quite Golden!

I had been out walking along this trail since morning. 

By noon, I was ready to find a spot to rest and sit down for my lunch when I saw this dragonfly that was a nice golden yellow colour.  With my untrained eye, it would have been easy for me to brush it off as the female of the Crocothemis servilia but the colour was really just different, it also looked very attractive and seemed slightly larger.  When I had another good look at it, I noticed the shape of its hindwings were different too.

That was when I realised I had chanced upon another species.

 

 

This golden yellow dragonfly is the Pantala flavescens of the family Libellulidae.  It is a female.  The male would have dark tips on its hindwings and the colour would be more brown-orangey though it is variable depending on maturity.  This species can be found almost everywhere in open country. 

According to the Pocket Guide, this species is migratory, often present in large swarms.  I had found only this one individual and managed to take two shots before it flew off.

I wonder if I will find it again?