Homer Lake Wetland Blog

Long-Jawed Spider and Common Green Darner Exuviae, July 17, 2021 As part of my study of the Homer Lake Wetland dragonfly population this year I have been collecting the shed exoskeletons ("exuviae") left behind by the adult dragonflies that emerge from the wetland. These are useful both as rough indicators of the numbers of dragonflies emerging as well as the species of dragonflies successfully emerging. Interestingly, as in the photo above, there are often spiders hanging around or even possibly inside some of the exuviae I collect. In almost all cases there is no evidence that the dragonfly was preyed upon by the spider -- the exuviae is empty and there is no sign of the adult dragonfly, so it seems that it emerged successfully and finished its process and flew off -- though there are a couple of exceptions. No, in most cases it seems that the spiders hanging around the exuviae are either there coincidentally or else they are interested in the empty exuviae itself. In the c

The Homer Lake Wetland Today (August 24, 2021) This year has been exceptional. One year ago today (see photo below), the wetland area was completely dry, the earth itself cracked. The water levels now are definitely going down, but the contrast between last year and this year on this day are still impressive. I have not always been as careful about tracking the water levels of the wetland, but looking at photos I happen to have from other years as well, I see that on August 12, 2012 it was completely dry; on August 20, 2017 there was nothing more than a small muddy spot at the lowest point, no standing water (photo below); and no discernible water in November of 2019 either.  I do not have any photographic records of the wetland for 2013 through 2016, but to my surprise I see that it's possible it never went completely dry in the Fall of 2018. The photo I have with the least amount of water that year was taken on September 2, 2018 (see below) and there is still a small puddle. A we

Two Young Deer Browse the Wetland, August 21, 2021 I happened to catch two young deer -- they still have their spots but were unaccompanied minors -- enjoying a visit to the wetland this morning. It's not uncommon to see deer at the wetland early mornings or in the evenings. Of course they may be coming for water, but I think also they enjoy some of the wetland plants. These two, for example, were acting a lot more like they were at a salad bar than at a drinking fountain.  I have recently been thinking of the creatures at the wetland in terms of residents, regulars and tourists.  The residents, of course, are those who completely rely on the wetland for their existence-- at least one or more of their life stages. Recall that fairy shrimp , for example, live and breed in the water, but leave eggs that survive the complete drying out of the wetland in anticipation of its renewal with the winter snows and rains. The many species of dragonflies, damselflies and frogs that breed in the

Mild Waterpepper (Persicaria hydropiperoides) in Full Bloom Dominates the West Edge and Northeast Corner of the Wetland As I make my way through the wetland now once the sun is up and the day is warm, there is a constant humming. Thankfully it is no longer the buzzing of mosquitoes but the hum of countless pollinators going about their business in the white-pink flower spikes of the mild waterpepper* plants which dominate especially the west edge and northeast corner of the wetland. These plants grow thick in these areas but are in other spaces in the wetland as well. They provide the perches for the majority of dragonfly naiads now emerging from the wetland, but the busy hum is from the pollinators (dragonflies don't buzz when they fly -- their wingbeats are much slower than those of the insects that buzz). Below are some of the pollinators photographed today. Conspicuously absent are any of the many fly species that were busily going about their business, so I'll include them

Snapping Turtle Still in the Wetland, August 14, 2021 Just a quick update that I saw the snapping turtle still living it up in the wetland today, so about two weeks after the first day I saw it nearby on the lawn. As noted in the "Space Invaders" post , it's hard to imagine a reason for it to leave as long as the water temperature does not get too hot (the wetland's shallow water heats up a lot more than the lake water does) and there is enough water for it to hide out in. So far so good.... for the turtle at least. Definitely a force to be reckoned with for pretty much everything else in the wetland that crosses its path. She's the new boss in town for sure!  

Snapping Turtle on "the Lawn" adjacent to the Wetland, July 31, 2021 On July 31st as I was getting ready to leave the wetland I came across a decent-sized snapping turtle in the grassy space between the wetland and the parking area. I didn't pull out a tape measure but would estimate the shell itself to have been about a foot long. Certainly snapping turtles get much larger, but at the same time, the size of this one is nothing to sneeze at. My assumption is that this was a female over from the lake on a search for a good place to deposit her eggs. The INHS page on snapping turtles  states that females lay eggs from mid-May to mid-June, so July 31 might be a bit of a stretch, but other sources seem to leave room for the possibility that this is a female out laying eggs. I got to thinking later that day that if this gal (or guy?) found its way into the wetland, it would very easily become the undisputed queen of the pond. A snapping turtle of this size would have no proble

Blanchard's Cricket Frog Metamorph, Homer Lake Wetland, August 4, 2021 I first noted seeing Blanchard's cricket frog metamorphs on July 31. There may have been some around before, but that's my first note in my notebook. Every visit since then, these tiny guys -- the one pictured above was approximately 1.3cm long (about half an inch) --  are abundant in various locations around the pond, leaping out of my way as I approach. The one above shows a bit of the bright green coloration that some have near the back legs, but others show more green or red in the midsections of their backs, just like the adults. I'm not seeing, or hearing, the adults very much any more. You may recall that this species has a very short life-span of less than two years, so disappearing adults may not be due to them wandering off to greener pastures... Plains Leopard Frog Metamorph, Homer Lake Wetland, August 4, 2021 Somewhere along the way I also realized that the leopard frogs scattering to ge

Long-Jawed Spider Web, Homer Lake Wetland, August 5, 2021 As I make my way through the wetland these days, especially in the early mornings, I find it festooned with spider webs like the one pictured above. Most of them are oriented horizontally and have the characteristics of the orb-weaver spiders -- radiating spokes with concentric circles over the water. These are the work of long-jawed spiders. This is a family of spiders consisting of some 989 species world-wide, some of which frequent the vegetation of wetlands. Long-Jawed Spider at the Homer Lake Wetland, July 28, 2021 These are long, slim spiders -- very "spidery" one might say. Like many other spiders they build their webs in the evening and are most active overnight, thus the prevalence of the webs in the early morning. During the day they hideout in the vegetation, sometimes relatively in plain sight, relying on the strategy of looking more like sticks than like spiders to avoid becoming prey items themselves. Lon

One of Five Teneral Carolina Saddlebags Observed at Homer Lake Wetland, August 4, 2021 Because the offspring of the common green darners which arrived at the wetland at the end of March  began emerging at the beginning of July , it's not too surprising that the offspring of the Carolina saddlebags that arrived in the first half of April are now emerging at the start of August (above). What I did NOT expect though was to see the offspring of the blue dashers which emerged somewhere locally and showed up at the wetland beginning at the end of May , but I saw three newly emerged blue dashers on Saturday and fourteen of them today. I didn't know blue dashers could reach maturity in just a little over two months (below).  One of Fourteen Teneral Blue Dashers Observed at Homer Lake Wetland, August 4, 2021

Newly Emerged Common Green Darner with Sadly Malformed Wings, Homer Lake Wetland, July 20, 2021 We live in a beautiful yet broken world. Things do not always unfold as they should, literally in the case of the dragonfly pictured above. Sadly it likely had a fall while the wings were still soft and now they are crumpled beyond repair.   Tragic outcomes such as this thankfully are rare. I find they serve to remind me how miraculous life really is. There is so much intricacy, complexity and beauty in the world around us and in our own lives, so much that unfolds flawlessly the overwhelming majority of the time, that we hardly even notice it’s there. We have much to be thankful for.