I'll Fly Away: Dragonfly Exuvia on Water Lily

There are amazing things going on every day now at the little lily pond at the Arboretum. The lotuses have begun their show. There is one shower-head-shaped seed pod from the lotus bloom I missed last week, and a new bud is coming along right beside it. I'll try to show you those later in the week.

We're in the high heat of summer now and the fancy bugs are going crazy. When I visited on this morning, there were dragonflies and damselflies of every size. Big, fat, green ones, itty bitty blue ones, zipping all around!

As I looked at one of the pink water lilies, I spotted the exuvia of a dragonfly just below the bloom. Dragonflies begin their lives as aquatic creatures. At some point, they crawl up out of the water, attach themselves to something tall, and begin the Great Change.

The water bug grows a crusty shell and then the dragonfly emerges. The exuvia, as you can see, is split. It is the shell that the dragonfly leaves behind when it is born to its wings.

I have only seen the actual process of a dragonfly emerging ONE TIME, right here at this very lily pond, and it was fabulous indeed, although I have to admit that at the time, I was not sure what I was actually SEEING.

I love the thought of that first magic moment when the dragonfly emerges from its shell and realizes that it can fly. And then it takes to its wings; takes to the sky! Fly, fly, fresh, brand new dragonfly!

The soundtrack song is this one, and I don't have to tell you who I'm thinking of as I post this: Gillian Welch and Alison Krauss, with I'll Fly Away, from the O Brother Where Art Thou soundtrack (which is fabulous, BTW).

Possibly related:
In Which a Dragon Gets Its Wings
The Exuvia Riders
The Ophelia Project