I always take a walk in the garden in the morning. A ritual start to the new day. I mainly wander along the path where we grow a multitude of flowers, trying to attract more insects, but certainly also to enjoy the colors and shapes of all that beauty, even as autumn takes over and decay sets in.

One morning a few days ago, I saw several dragonflies in different positions against the remains of what were blooming flowers a few weeks ago. The insects looked dead, with drops of dew on their wings and faces. Not a single movement, not even when I got closer. What was going on here?

The ‘large insect book’ gave all the answers. Dragonflies enter into a state known as torpor, where the insect is unresponsive to most stimuli, even to a woman with a camera wearing pyjamas right in front of them. In this state, their bodily temperature lowers and all of their metabolic functions reduce. This helps them to protect themselves from harsh conditions like a cold night.

Dragonflies are highly vulnerable when in this state of torpor. They protect themselves by hiding away behind vegetation. This way, they hope to be safe from potential predators.

One of our chickens, limping and always curious what I'm doing, turned out to be such a dangerous predator. Before I could do anything, she ate a dragonfly still in a state of meditative tranquility. A scrap of blue abdomen stood out colorfully against her red bill. Not everything is well arranged in nature.

And so ended this photographer's morning walk. A little wiser and with a sense of guilt. Because if I hadn’t been curious and too close, the chicken wouldn't have followed me and launched the attack as a red-billed predator. Look again at that face in the photo above. As if she had foreseen her tragic end, that beautiful dragonfly. Like an opera singer about to take a theatrical suicidal leap into the depths, saying goodbye forever to her adulterous lover. Oh my, not all days start off right, here on our flower path under the autumn sun.