As a child we used to call these flying insects helicopters in Maltese. We knew they were called dragonflies in English. I had to learn its proper name in Maltese when I became a teacher many years later (mazzarell; pl. /i).
I shot these during my walk in San Anton Gardens two days ago. For this upload I put two shots together over an enlarged image of the dragonfly's wing.
One time I was taking a photo of a dragonfly that had perched on a fountain's edge in the middle of a small pond. I took off my eyeglasses and put one of the temples inside my open shirt, kind of hanging out. I leaned over the edge to get closer to the dragonfly and heard a quiet plop! Adios dragonfly. Had to roll up my trousers, get into a dirty water and look for the eyeglasses by feeling with my toes where it was. It was not a pleasant experience :)
