Master An’s report, I stayed by the tank past 11 p.m., hoping to capture the moment of emergence on camera. However, nothing happened that night, and when I checked the next morning, the dragonfly had already emerged.
I took a photo of it perched high on the wall, so the angle looks a bit odd, but it had emerged beautifully. I opened the window, and it took off energetically into the air.
Last night, another nymph was sticking its head out of the water again, so I stayed by the tank past midnight, thinking “this time it will happen for sure,” but again, nothing happened. When I checked in the morning, it had already emerged as well.
It was still near its shed exoskeleton in the morning, so it probably emerged fairly late at night.
Last year, some of the emerged dragonflies had uneven wing sizes, but the ones that emerged this year all turned out to be strong and well-formed. Comparing the second and third dragonflies in the photos, you can see that the black patterns on the wings of #2 aren’t yet present on #3—maybe they’ll darken over time.
It seems our household’s night-owl habits have rubbed off on them—these nymphs also prefer to stay up late…