Black-Winged Damselfly

[Taceas]

My life is never typical. My friends and family think I'm weird as can be, and my mom still doesn't understand how her only child could have turned out the way I did.

I went to the grocery store on Monday evening. Walked in and over to the bread aisle and saw this thing flittering. So I caught it in mid-air and saw how pretty it was. I took it back over to the door and released it....in it came again. So I thought I might as well just take it back home and release it. I live in the country and I'm sure it'd be better off there than in the middle of town.

So I have its wings pinched between my fingers and I go shopping. Halfway through the store however I'm sick of holding it. So I go down the aisle where they sell a small assortment of plastic food storage containers and pick up a small half-cup sized one and put the bug in and drive off to finish shopping.

I get to the check out and place the container on the conveyor and the cashier doesn't even notice as she grabs it and scans it and shoves it back to the bagger. The bagger (who is a girl) grabs it, sees the bug, shreaks and drops it.

So then begins the usual 5 minute conversation about "What is it?" "Does it bite?" "What are you going to do with it?" "Why'd you save it?". As I'm answering the questions, the lady behind me in the lane asks, "Can I get a bug if I buy a container, too?"

So there you have it...the Black-Winged Damselfly who came home from the grocery store in a container I bought to hold it and was released next to our frog pond.

 

[bugmankeith]

I have the same problem with people thinking i'm weird. Sometimes I can sit down for at least an hour in my backyard and watch all the different insects visiting. In my college I took it upon myself to free some large moths and crane flys trapped by closed windows. Dont feel bad your just doing what you like, I would have caught it and let it go also. I have pet bugs in my room, my parents and family think i'm weird enough.

 

[zinto]

Good job on saving the damselfly! That's a really cool looking specimen too! You're not the only weird one out there, we gotta stick together!

 

[Taceas]

And to think I went out to the garden this afternoon to pick green beans and look over my ever changing crops and giggle like a little school girl when I notice hundreds of baby mantids crawling over everything in sight. =D

Oh the simple things...

 

[insect714]

That has got to be one of the coolest Damselflies I have ever seen. We have plenty of blue or green but I have never seen one like that. :drool: I want something like that here... I would also like to have mantids all over everything...Thanks for sharing such great pics.

Jon Insect

 

[Brian S]

The same species is also common around here. I notice they are only around moving water such as streams where as the other species seem to prefer still water such as ponds. Nice looking specimen you found there

 

[AR-Tarantula]

Looks like you have an ebony jewelwing (Calyopterys maculata) there.