After mating, female bluets seek out sites either in the water or in vegetation close to it, to lay their eggs. Often she is accompanied by her mate, still holding onto her by the nape of the neck; if she's laying eggs underwater, he can help her return to the surface when she's done.
Sometimes though, the female goes about her business alone. I watched this one laying her eggs in the cone of a swamp horsetail, a few centimeters above the water surface.
This series of five photos covered only 20 seconds, from the time I managed to focus on her until she flew away, with that clutch of eggs safely hidden.
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Caught in mid procedure. Her abdomen is curled up to meet the dangling horsetail cone. |
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Pause. |
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Reaching up again. |
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Straightening out. That's it for this location. |
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And she's ready to move on. |
She's not done yet; she will find several other locations to deposit the rest of her eggs; life is precarious around the pond. It's the old principle: never put all your eggs in one basket.
Después del apareamiento, las azulillas hembras van en busca de sitios donde poner sus huevos, ya sea en el agua, o en plantas cerca del agua. Frecuentemente el macho la acompaña, deteniéndola todavía por la nuca; si ella decide poner sus huevos bajo la superficie del agua, el macho la puede ayudar a salir cuando termina de poner ese grupo de huevos.
Hay ocasiones, sin embargo, en que la hembra se ocupa de esta tarea a solas. Observé esta mientras ponía sus huevos en el cono de un Equiseto fluviatile (cola de caballo de los humedales), a unos pocos centímetros sobre la superficie del agua.
Esta serie de cinco fotos abarca solamente 20 segundos, desde el momento en que la vi y pude enfocar la cámara hasta que se voló, con ese grupo de huevos seguramente depositados.
- Ya está en la postura necesaria; el final del abdomen hace contacto con la planta.
- Descansa.
- Otra vez vuelve a tocar el cono del equiseto.
- Enderezándose.
- Y lista para volar.
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