Post by boghaunter1 on Dec 22, 2015 15:22:17 GMT -8
Hi again,
In late July 2014, on a wooded back road N.E. of Hudson Bay, SK, I came across an uncommon sight. There was a vigorous thrashing/crackling noise going on in the grass at the roads edge. I carefully parted the grass & saw a life & death struggle ensuing between a large male Lake Darner Aeshna eremita & a smaller female Variable Darner Aeshna interrupta. The Lake Darner is the second largest sp. of dragonfly in SK (after the slightly larger & much rarer Anax junius. Apparently the Lake Darner had just scooped the Variable Darner right out of the air & both had dropped into the grass in a fight to the death. I've observed, on many occasions, the large Aeshna dragonflies preying on much smaller sp. of dragonflies, but rarely have I seen them attacking each other for food. I only remember one previous occasion, a number of yrs. ago, when I came across a similar situation where a maleAeshna canadensis was found chewing on only about half of all that remained of another unidentified Aeshna's abdomen!
Back to the story... I thought I would try to get some photos of this interesting death match, however, my camera was still in my car about 50 meters behind me. I tossed my net on the ground to mark the spot & dashed back & retrieved it. Luckily, for me, but not for the unlucky female Variable Darner, they were both still there struggling & coupled together; I noticed that the Lake Darner had, by this time, already begun chewing on the other one's head. I carefully picked them out of the grass & managed to snap a number of photos as the Lake Darner finished off the head & then dug right into the thorax of the still struggling Variable Darner. At this point I set them back in the grass allowing the meal to continue "uninterrupted"... on the poor female Aeshna interrupta... pun intended!
In late July 2014, on a wooded back road N.E. of Hudson Bay, SK, I came across an uncommon sight. There was a vigorous thrashing/crackling noise going on in the grass at the roads edge. I carefully parted the grass & saw a life & death struggle ensuing between a large male Lake Darner Aeshna eremita & a smaller female Variable Darner Aeshna interrupta. The Lake Darner is the second largest sp. of dragonfly in SK (after the slightly larger & much rarer Anax junius. Apparently the Lake Darner had just scooped the Variable Darner right out of the air & both had dropped into the grass in a fight to the death. I've observed, on many occasions, the large Aeshna dragonflies preying on much smaller sp. of dragonflies, but rarely have I seen them attacking each other for food. I only remember one previous occasion, a number of yrs. ago, when I came across a similar situation where a maleAeshna canadensis was found chewing on only about half of all that remained of another unidentified Aeshna's abdomen!
Back to the story... I thought I would try to get some photos of this interesting death match, however, my camera was still in my car about 50 meters behind me. I tossed my net on the ground to mark the spot & dashed back & retrieved it. Luckily, for me, but not for the unlucky female Variable Darner, they were both still there struggling & coupled together; I noticed that the Lake Darner had, by this time, already begun chewing on the other one's head. I carefully picked them out of the grass & managed to snap a number of photos as the Lake Darner finished off the head & then dug right into the thorax of the still struggling Variable Darner. At this point I set them back in the grass allowing the meal to continue "uninterrupted"... on the poor female Aeshna interrupta... pun intended!
