Fighting Above Your Weight, Pt. 2 - _TNY_9300
My mother-in-law have a garden pond around which I've seen at least seven different species of dragonfly.
For our August visit, a male southern hawker (Aeshna cyanea) has been patrolling over and around the pond, but one day he met some unexpected opposition. This male black darter (Sympetrum danae), Sweden's smallest dragonfly species decided that he was the one to chase the hawker away and opposed the much larger opponent.
This is a rather hazardous strategy as the hawker would have no problem overpowering the darter and make a meal out of it, but the fight ended in a draw I suppose. This is the black darter when recuperating in-between dogfights over the pond.
Part 1 (closer) here: www.flickr.com/photos/tinyturtle/53914757126/
For a shot of a (different) souther hawker, have a look at this one which landed on my son's ear: www.flickr.com/photos/tinyturtle/50203486953/
Fighting Above Your Weight, Pt. 2 - _TNY_9300
My mother-in-law have a garden pond around which I've seen at least seven different species of dragonfly.
For our August visit, a male southern hawker (Aeshna cyanea) has been patrolling over and around the pond, but one day he met some unexpected opposition. This male black darter (Sympetrum danae), Sweden's smallest dragonfly species decided that he was the one to chase the hawker away and opposed the much larger opponent.
This is a rather hazardous strategy as the hawker would have no problem overpowering the darter and make a meal out of it, but the fight ended in a draw I suppose. This is the black darter when recuperating in-between dogfights over the pond.
Part 1 (closer) here: www.flickr.com/photos/tinyturtle/53914757126/
For a shot of a (different) souther hawker, have a look at this one which landed on my son's ear: www.flickr.com/photos/tinyturtle/50203486953/