From Ice Water to Wings: The Release of Bale, the First Dragonfly of Sixty-One

June 12, 2026

Published in: Rochester Sun Times
Date: Friday, June 12, 2026
Time: 2:16 PM CDT
Author: Lisa Loucks-Christenson

About the Author:
Lisa Loucks-Christenson is an investigative journalist, author, photographer, illustrator, comic artist, songwriter, and ordained Christian minister (since 2013) based in Rochester, Minnesota. She manages multiple online media outlets, including Rochester Sun Times News, and creates multimedia content including books, songs, documentaries, and investigative journalism. She is known for her work in wildlife documentation, nature conservation, print and digital publishing.

From Ice Water to Wings: The Release of Bale, the First Dragonfly of Sixty-One

Watch Bale's Release:
Video: Bale the Dragonfly Released at Pool Pond

At noon today, Bale was released.

She did not leave immediately. She stayed—until 12:27 PM CDT—perched on the edge of where my care ends and her life begins.

It was mainly sunny, 76°F, 18 mph winds, 32% humidity. The release took place at Pool Pond in the Laurie (Loucks) Burt Wildlife Sanctuary, on private land in Rochester, Minnesota.

Bale is the first of sixty-one dragonfly nymphs I pulled from Pool Pond between November 14–22, 2025. Since then, I have hand-fed and cared for them through every stage I could reach.

Pool Pond is shallow by design, meant to support insect life and help keep them safe but not from freezing into the pond through the winter. Insects, birds, squirrels, and even deer have jumped in to drink there.

This story began in icy water.

I had just turned 61, and it was odd: that was exactly how many nymphs I found. I walked into the November ice water, barefoot, with a dragonfly tattoo on my foot, following a dragonfly that had broken through the ice to retrieve them. A winter storm arrived that weekend. I called out, “Step out and be saved, or you will freeze.” I didn’t do it once. I did it over a dozen times.

Our first winter storm hit a few days later. Then the pond did what was expected. It froze into a solid block of ice, a couple inches thick, freezing any life left behind.

But sixty-one were already out.

Not all of the sixty-one made it.

Some fell prey. Some died shedding. Some died right away. Some escaped. One was beheaded by another who had escaped and found their feeding pen. We named them and I attached their rescue date and name to their containers. Some names were serious, some silly, some that fit the dragon. Bale was right from the start.

Seven months in care.

Seven months of feeding, watching, learning, losing, and waiting.

And on June 8, 2026, the first emerged. Threats of severe storms delayed his release.

Bale represents the lead—the first to ascend, the first flight, the first change in our journey.

Scripture for this day:

“Let every thing that hath breath praise the LORD. Praise ye the LORD.” — Psalm 150:6 (KJV)

Care has a season.
Release has a season.
And now, flight has its season.

Bale—grace and thunder—
you were given into my care, and now I release you.

Fly in the strength God placed within you.
Go where you are led.
Be carried farther than I could ever take you.

You are free.

Go well, Bale.

If our paths never cross again,
I will still know this moment was real—
that you were here,
that you were known,
and that you flew.

BaleTheDragonflyRelease #LisaLCBooks #WildlifeRehabilitation #Dragonfly #RochesterMN #PoolPond #SixtyOne #61dragonssong #LionelKingofPoolPond

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