Look at what caused a delay in launching my kayak - a dragonfly emerging from its nymph exoskeleton. I decided I'd have to wait until it was finished before launching into the water. It looked like an epic struggle was going on, and I certainly didn't want to stress it even further. (I really liked the shadow of the exoskeleton's legs!)
The wings were compactly folded, making it look like its arms had been amputated, but this feat of origami just needed time and some sun to unravel itself. The uninflated wings were better seen from another angle:
The next time I looked, its wings had unfolded and flattened, but were wet and stuck to the kayak, causing the emerging adult to slide downwards.
We were afraid the fragile wings would tear, so Dale carefully got it to regrip on his finger and held it up for the wings to unwrinkle and dry fully. They still looked curly and compromised at this point.
We placed it on a tree, where it was extremely well camouflaged
I went back to take a final shot before launching my kayak - it had only taken 18 minutes from that first shot to this last one - but I was champing at the bit to get onto the water, and this little emergency was delaying me! Alas, I didn't see the dragonfly anywhere - I can only hope it flew off, and wasn't taken by a hungry bird feeding chicks. I wish I'd got a more conclusive pic to wrap up this story ...
All that remained was this crusty looking exoskeleton with its unzipped back.
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