7 December 2006
I went hunting odonata on this day, looking for my favourite Whitewater Rockmaster damselfly,
Diphlebia lestoides and maybe another damsel, which I saw here last year.
I wasn't disappointed, finding both.
I saw many Diphlebia lestoides.
The males were guarding territories and facing each other off,
as shown in image 3959.
When another male enters a territory, the resident male will fly at it and hover with its tail raised.
Young males will immediately fly away when challenged like this but similarly matched males will do it back.
This generally only lasts a few seconds, when one flies off.
Relative to how long the joust lasted, the winner will chase the loser away.
I observed this behaviour several times but wasn't able to get really good shots
due to speed at which it all happens.
The males would release the females immediately after mating, sometimes guarding them closely but not for long.
The females tended to lay their eggs nearby so still in the male's territory.
Image 4011
shows a female depositing on submerged bark.
They will completely submerge themselves when laying.
The second damselfly I came to see was one I spotted last year and someone else reported seeing this year again.
I saw two males and was able to get some half-decent photos this time of the Griseargiolestes intermedius.
I saw a few other interesting things while wandering around (in and out of the water).
I've seen the spider species before — they are very swift and therefore difficult to photograph.
I was lucky that this one ran under a leaf and, on turning the leaf over, the spider clung to it.
I saw half a dozen crayfish in the Yarra River while wading around — most were around 20cm long.
I photographed them one through the water (hence the poor quality as I'd need a polarizing filter).
I had one crawl up and inspect my big toe with its pincers!
At one spot however I found the remains of a large crayfish in the water.
The claw alone was as long as my hand is wide.
I would have loved to see one like this stalking through the water, just not nibbling on my toes.
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