Homer Lake Wetland Blog

Common Whitetail Dragonfly Naiad, Homer Lake Wetland, September 25, 2021 When I visited the wetland on Saturday, in addition to a photoshoot with a water scorpion , I was looking at what else was still moving around in the water. Mostly at this point it was dragonfly naiads. A couple of scoops with a metal strainer into the shallow water and mud produced about a dozen of them. Most of them, like the one above, were nearing the stage where they would emerge from the water and emerge from their old exoskeletons as adult dragonflies, but not quite yet... When I came back on Sunday afternoon for a brief visit, there was no more standing water. While it's again possible some of the dragonfly naiads will have escaped into the mud and will survive a while, many of them, like the one pictured below, did not. And those that made it into the mud are not likely to survive the winter to emerge next year. These species normally overwinter in the water and are not adapted for surviving the dryin...

Water Scorpion, Homer Lake Wetland, September 25, 2021 The standing water at the wetland was about half today of what it was yesterday when I arrived this morning. Many of the creatures I saw in the water yesterday were no longer to be seen today. I did not see, for example, any giant water bug nymphs or any common green darner dragonfly naiads, though today I saw dragonfly naiads I did not see many of yesterday or the day before. However, one of the things I had hoped to accomplish today was to get a better look at a water scorpion, so I was blessed to find this guy hanging around in the little bit of water that remained. I mentioned water scorpions in passing in the previous blog post, but here's a better look. If you're thinking underwater preying mantis with snorkel at the back end for breathing air underwater, you're on the right track. You can see the resemblance in the front legs and they serve the same purpose -- raptorial legs for snagging prey. The water scorpio...

with 1.5" of rain over two days, the wetland bounces back... briefly, September 23, 2021 I stopped by the wetland today and discovered that after 1.5" of rain over the past two days, the aquatic phase of the wetland is back in business. I don't expect it to last long, but after everything was dry on Monday, I thought the aquatic phase of the wetland cycle was over for the summer and most of the Fall. Surprise! On Monday as I noted in that day's blog post, " Death... and Life ," there were no living aquatic creatures visible. There were plenty of frogs still hopping around, but thousands of dead tadpoles and hundreds of dead dragonfly naiads. Not surprisingly there were no signs of tadpole life today; however, there were many dragonfly naiads exploring the edges of the big puddle or scooting through it. Like the tadpoles, dragonfly naiads are completely aquatic and breathe through gills. With so many of them dead on Monday, these must have burrowed down deepl...

video shot at the edge of the wetland, September 16, 2021, a few days before it was completely dry During the last week the wetland still had water, I shot a number of videos. I was thinking of releasing a compilation of footage trying to tell the story of the last week, and may still do that, but as I was reviewing what I had shot, I was impressed with how well adapted dragonfly naiads are at hiding in plain sight. In the one-minute video clip above, there are numerous dragonfly naiads that are very difficult to spot before they start moving. See how many you can see. (You may want to watch it more than once.)

The Wetland, September 20, 2021 Thursday (9/16) when I was at the wetland, what water there was was full of life (video yet to come). Today, despite rains in the past 24 hours, the water has been replaced by the stench of death. When I took the photo above, just after arriving at the wetland today, I imagined that the dark circle and darker area inside the circle at the center of the photo were places that were not as dry as the lighter-colored areas.  I was wrong. As I got closer, I realized that the dark areas are where all the dead tadpoles are, thousands of them. A Closer Look at "The Dark Circle" (click to view larger) And Closer Still (click to view larger) In addition to the dead tadpoles, a careful look reveals snails and dead dragonfly naiads as well.I It's a miniature Central Illinois version of the LaBrea Tarpits. But the title of this post mentions "life." In the top photo above, the vibrant green through the middle of the picture was mud flats a wee...

58 Assorted Dragonfly Naiads -- only some of those that came out in one swipe of the net, September 16, 2021 As the water level continues to shrink, the aquatic life still in the wetland gets more and more crowded together. Today in one swipe of a 10" by 7" aquarium net (see below) through the water and soft mud of what's left of the wet area of the wetland, I captured 121 tadpoles and the 58 dragonfly naiads pictured above.* In the case of the tadpoles, the count was fairly complete as I painstakingly sorted them out of the muddy water, counted and released them back into the wetland. In that process I came across some of the dragonfly naiads, but for many others I had to sift and sort through the very soft mud that had come out in the net until I hit a point where I just had to stop even though there were certainly many more still in the mud on my sorting tray. In addition to tadpoles and dragonfly naiads, there were shiny little water beetles, backswimmers and numerous...

Bullfrog Tadpole from the Wetland, September 11, 2021 I used a small dipnet today to get a sample of who's still in the water. With a couple of swipes of a 10" aquarium net I came out with more than a dozen tadpoles. The one above was the best example of a bullfrog tadpole, evidenced by the mottled pattern predominantly along the top of its tailfin with very little on the lower side.  In contrast, the green frog tadpole below shows a very uniform mottling on both the top and bottom of the tailfin as well as across its entire body.  The majority of the tadpoles I looked at today were green frog tadpoles. I plan to look again to see if there may be other species left behind, but because these two species require two or more seasons to develop, they are guaranteed in trouble as the wetland dries up. And there are LOTS of them in the wetland. As I walk through they scatter by the dozens ahead of my steps and plunge back into the silt to hide. They will not be s...

 Looks like  this female widow skimmer has  been through a WW I dogfight and lucky to be alive! September 8, 2021 At least three of the dragonflies I photographed today at the wetland were showing their age in the wear on their wings. Apart from the common green darners and some meadowhawk species, dragonfly abundance is low at the wetland now anyway, and like the female widow skimmer above, those that are still around are increasingly showing their age. Not to worry though, dragonflies are incredible fliers and while a dragonfly with damaged wings may be at a disadvantage competing against other dragonflies, finding and capturing food is still usually possible as even with damaged wings they can almost certainly outfly most any other insect they might choose to have for dinner. Nevertheless, apart from those that will migrate south, as the nights grow cold, their days are numbered. Male great blue skimmer showing some wear and tear, Septembe...

Goldfinches Eating Duckweed in the Expanded Margins of the Wetland, September 6, 2021 Like the solitary sandpipers (one was there again this morning), the local goldfinch flock also stands to gain from the decreasing water levels and increasing mud flats of the wetland. When I first arrived this morning, this trio of goldfinches were busily devouring duckweed -- you can see a bit hanging out of the beak of the one on the far right in the photo above. At one point before I left, there were at least seven goldfinches in this area of the wetland which a week or two ago was covered in water. The receding water level has left duckweed accessible to the goldfinches, which I've seen in this part of the wetland every time I've come for the past week or so. If you're like me, you may be surprised to think goldfinches would eat duckweed. A number of years ago I got photos at the beaver dam at Meadowbrook Park in Urbana of a goldfinch hanging head down from a branch over the water. I ...

Decreasing Water, Increasing Mud at the Wetland, September 3, 2021 Although it's held on longer than it has in recent years, the wetland is on its way out. Or more accurately, it's headed into its dry months. As we've seen, so much of the wetland life will still be present, only in other forms. Plants will reappear from seeds or rhizomes. Some of the creatures that call the wetland home will survive the dry and the cold underground, while others such as the fairy shrimp, spreadwing damselflies and meadowhawk dragonflies will start over with a new generation from eggs that survive the dry and cold. Turtles, frogs and snakes as well as most of the other dragonfly species will recolonize from elsewhere when there is water here again. The wetland doesn't really go away -- it just exists in a different form. And then... just add water. Meanwhile, the ever increasing expanses of mud between what was the shoreline and where the water is now provides opportunity to check tra...

Solitary Sandpiper in Search of Breakfast, Homer Lake Wetland, August 31, 2021 Over the past week, the mornings that I've been at the wetland I've been joined by one or two solitary sandpipers (is "two solitary sandpipers" an oxymoron?). Thinking back to the post I shared on August 21,  " Residents, Regulars and Tourists ," the solitary sandpipers fit into the tourist category. There was a solitary sandpiper passing through back at the end of April, which spent at least a couple of days enjoying the hospitality of the wetland. That one would have been on its way to the breeding grounds in Canada. The two I've been seeing this past week would be headed back from Canada to South America to spend the winter. They too have found the wetland to their liking as a convenient stopover to rest up and get replenished before continuing on their journey. One of the factors now that make it an attractive stopover is the expanding muddy shoreline as the water recedes...