Damsel in distress

At the local wildlife park this week:

When damselflies have mated the male hangs onto the female's neck while she lays eggs in the pond. It's to ensure that the kids are his.
Unfortunately the female below got caught by a water boatman. I didn't even know they were predators but it crept up underwater and tried to drag the damselfly under. The male did his best to pull her free but eventually flew away to leave her to struggle alone. I know all you women are going to say "Typical male, puts her up the spout and then runs." but he did try his best.
So the drama began:

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Excellent action sequence and love the green veined butterfly
brian V.

love the shot with the vultures!

Nice action set, I like the green vein butterfly best too.

Nice set. Like the Butterfly. Good story to.

Excellent action series Eccles, and the last 3 shots are great as well. Nicely done.

Wonderful action series eccles.

Of course we don't mind you getting a Sony... <sniff> It's just we won't comment on pics with the exif removed...

Thanks all. I just remembered I'd forgotten to post one but it'll wait. I might not have any for next week while I'm figuring out the new camera. BTW is it ok to post non-Canon pics here?

I dont think it will be a problem eccles, I'm sure I've seen lots of post from non-canon users.

Nice series of shots eccles (just struggling to view the green veined lol).

Have to ask this, but why on earth didnt you rescue the damsel with a stick or something? Or are you a believer of letting nature take its course?

Linda

Thanks Trevor. I'll try not to make them too good and show up the Canon users like LordV (hah, fat chance!)
@Linda, it's a difficult question in general, but in this case, short of wading into the pond I couldn't do anything. I was stretching over the pond using the camera's tilt screen to get these shots. I doubt if using a stick would have made any difference. It might have pushed the damselfly over.
But points I can think of are:
The male that was originally attached to the female tried several times to fly up with her but failed. Who knows what chance the damselfly would have had if I'd tried to wrench the two insects apart?
Adult damselflies live for about 2-3 weeks. This female had already most likely laid down the next generation, and was now possibly providing a meal for another creature. Denying that meal might have meant the death of the predator and not necessarily prolonged the life of the prey.
Damselflies are predators too. If she'd been released, what other beautiful little insects might have fallen?

eccles wrote in post #3751173
Thanks Trevor. I'll try not to make them too good and show up the Canon users like LordV (hah, fat chance!)
@Linda, it's a difficult question in general, but in this case, short of wading into the pond I couldn't do anything. I was stretching over the pond using the camera's tilt screen to get these shots. I doubt if using a stick would have made any difference. It might have pushed the damselfly over.
But points I can think of are:
The male that was originally attached to the female tried several times to fly up with her but failed. Who knows what chance the damselfly would have had if I'd tried to wrench the two insects apart?
Adult damselflies live for about 2-3 weeks. This female had already most likely laid down the next generation, and was now possibly providing a meal for another creature. Denying that meal might have meant the death of the predator and not necessarily prolonged the life of the prey.
Damselflies are predators too. If she'd been released, what other beautiful little insects might have fallen?

LOL eccles and fair points and very logical way of looking at it

I can now see your green veined and its gorgeous - beautiful composition.
Good luck with your new camera, look forward to seeing the pics you get from it.

Linda

Thanks Linda. I hope I made the right decision with the Sony. I tried the Canon 400D and the Sony A100 in a shop last week and I must admit the 400D felt better, but the Sony didn't feel wrong so I'm hopeful that I can get used to it. Tell you what though, this little S3 is still good for a P&S and I'm hanging onto it.