Wednesday, January 20, 2016

Fly 20 - Yellow Sally Stonefly

Yellow Sally Stonefly
5x7, soft pastel

The metamorphosis from egg to nymph to fly is fascinating.  As shown below (courtesy of Encyclopedia Brittanica).  While the nymph stage is quite long (12 months)...the change from late stage nymph to a fly taking flight is only 24 hours.  As the emerging fly's wings dry out on the surface of the water, they're pretty suseptable to being snatched up by a hungry fish.  Lucky are those who live long enough to take flight!